Integrative Biology 200B             Spring 1999

"PRINCIPLES OF PHYLOGENETICS:  ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION"

Quiz 1

1.   (25 pts.) Briefly describe the following concepts:

a. center of origin hypothesis
 
 
 
 

b. vicariance biogeography
 
 
 
 

c. concentrated change test
 
 
 
 

d. Brook's parsimony
 
 
 
 

e. monophyletic species
 
 
 
 

2.   (10 pts.)   In which one of the following cases is the maximum parsimony method most likely to be inconsistent (i.e.,  not converging on the correct tree as more data are added). Why?  What properties of data make the problem worse?
 
 
 
 
 
 

3.  (20 pts.)  Assume the correctness of the tree below, consider the following functional characteristics:
 

FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS:
                       
TAXON:  leaves:     aphid   predation:             habitat:    presence of toxic chemical:
A  smooth                                       no         forest   yes
B mooth                       yes          forest   yes
C hairy      yes   desert      yes
D hairy   
 
 		 yes   desert      yes
outgroup  smooth     no   forest      no

Which of the following adaptive scenarios are supported by these data?  Which can be rejected?   Give your reasons.

a.  Hairy leaves evolved to deter aphid predation.
 
 
 
 

b.  Hairy leaves evolved to insulate leaves in desert environments.
 
 
 
 
 

c.  The toxic chemical evolved to deter aphid predation.
 
 
 
 
 

d.  Smooth leaves evolved to gather more light in shady forest environments.
 

4. (20 points) Briefly contrast the following pairs of terms (Use diagrams if they help):

Strict consensus trees vs. majority-rule consensus trees
 
 
 
 
 

transformational vs. taxic homology
 
 
 
 
 

additive binary recoding vs. non-additive binary recoding
 
 
 
 
 

replicator vs. interactor
 
 
 
 
 

neoteny vs. progenesis
 
 
 
 
 

5.   (25 pts.) What sort of comparative method or approach would you apply to the following evolutionary questions (e.g., what kind of data would you require, how would you generate a null hypothesis, how would you judge statistical significance?):

a. (4 pts.) Has a particular clade of parasitic plants closely co-evolved with its clade of host plants?
 
 
 
 
 
 

b. (4 pts.)  Two lineages have merged, producing a new lineage (e.g., "speciation through allopolyploidy")
 
 
 
 

c. (4 pts.) Is molecular evolutionary change concentrated in speciation events?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

d. (4 pts.) Copious nectar production is an adaptation for hummingbird pollination in flowering plants.?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

e.  (4 pts.) There is trend towards increasing body size within lineages of mammals (Cope's Rule).