Chapter 2 “DRAFT - Reading guide Chapter 2: Tree thinking & its importance in the development of evolutionary thought”
Chapter commentary
NOTE: this chapter has NOT been assigned as of 8/30/2019
2.1 Vocab summary
2.2 Notes
No figures or tables in this chapter require particular attention.
2.3 (Introduction)
- [ladder thinking]
2.4 “Before Charles Darwin” (OPTIONAL)
This section is optional.
2.5 “Charles Darwin’s role in the development of tree thinking”
[common ancestry]
2.6 “Evidence for evolution and common ancestry”
- separate ancestry
- homologous features: This is a very important concept, though we will primarily think about it in terms of DNA, protein, etc.
- [transitional fossils’
- nested structure: A great analogy for understnading nested structure, aka “nestedness”, are Russina dolls which all fit inside each other. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll
- hierarchical structure: In human society hiearchies are common, eg the leadership structure of the military, feudal systems with kinds, barons, etc.
- Consistency index (CI): This will be elaborated on in future chapters.
Figure 2.4 provides a visual explanation of homology. In this course we will typically talk about homologies at the macromolecular sequence level. Thinking in terms of homology at this molecular level might be a bit trickier.
2.7 “The emergence of phylogenetic systematics”
- common descent
- [phyletic series]
- [phylogenetic systematics]
2.8 “Vestiges of ladder thinking in the popular understanding of evolution”
2.9 Chapter 2 Quiz
2.9.1 General biology questions:
The following questions are mostly relevant for intro biology students, but may be useful for computational biology students to review.
1, 2, 10, 12, 13, 14
2.9.2 Computational biology questions:
9
2.9.3 Interesting questions:
3, 6, 7, 15
2.10 Further reading
Similar ideas are discussed in these papers:
Baum et al. The tree-thinking challenge. Science
Baum and Offner. 2008. Phylogenics & tree-thinking. American Biology Teacher.