answersLogoWhite

0

A system that groups organisms by ancestry

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago

What else can I help you with?

Continue Learning about Natural Sciences

What basic idea does cladistics use to classify groups of organisms?

Cladistics shows the genetic relationships between organisms.


What is the main disadvantage to using cladistics?

One main disadvantage of cladistics is that it relies heavily on subjective decisions about which traits to include in the analysis, which can lead to different conclusions depending on the researcher's choices. Additionally, cladistics assumes that evolution always proceeds in a bifurcating manner, which may not always reflect the complexities of evolutionary relationships.


How is cladistics used to reveal evolutionary relationships between organisms?

Cladistics analyzes shared characteristics in organisms to group them into evolutionary related categories called clades. By identifying shared derived characteristics among species, cladistics can reveal the evolutionary relationships and common ancestry between organisms. This method helps to construct evolutionary trees that show the branching patterns of species over time.


Which of cladistics or phylogeny is the most useful in understanding how an organism developed into its current form?

Phylogeny is the most useful in understanding how an organism developed into its current form because it focuses on the evolutionary history and relationships between different species. By analyzing phylogenetic trees and genetic data, scientists can trace the evolutionary pathways of organisms and determine their common ancestry. Cladistics, on the other hand, is a method used within phylogenetics to classify organisms based on shared derived characteristics.


How can convergent evolution mislead taxonomists?

Convergent evolution can mislead taxonomists because similar traits can evolve independently in different species facing similar ecological pressures, leading to the mistaken classification of species as closely related when they are not. This can result in incorrect grouping of species and underestimation of the true diversity within a taxonomic group.