Has molecular data replaced morphological data in phylogeny reconstruction

The phylogenetic positioning of taxa within a tree has farsighted been of interest to systematicists such that the evolutionary history of life train away be studied. However, due to the timescales involved, direct observation of this phenomenon is not assertable and as such, evolutionary history must be inferred from patent characters. Traditionally, structural features imbibe been apply to invoke ancestral and beat relationships existent between taxa, but with recent technological advantages in genomics, more weight is being given to molecular(a) data. So, the interrogatory arises as to whether this novel mode is superior in the yields yielded and regarding whether it toilet potentially replace traditional methods completely. Morphology has provided the principal(a) source of data throughout the historical study of phylogenetics and has yielded the absolute majority of the trees that be used today. It is disused in the literature to queue examples where m olecular studies have completely usurped the original tree, albeit examples are ground to exist. This suggests a richly degree of congruence between the dickens applied methods which implies that uncomplete can be considered significantly superior. Where incongruence is found, on that point are some(prenominal) invoices which can either resolve the problem or precede to further debate. A simple explanation for incongruence considers the level of live on for either estimate in harm of the quantity of discipline (taxa and/or characters) used in the outline and this can be quantitatively assessed by means of help digest. It is extremely rare to find examples where two conflicting trees are both considerably supported in terms of their clades. A second explanation centres on the methods of analysis. If a different analysis (e.g. Parsimony, UPGMA) has been applied to the morphological and molecular data sets, different trees whitethorn result as an artefact of this, and application of the same method may resul! t in congruence (e.g. If you want to suck a replete essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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