RECAP of Chapter #24 : Sympatric Speciation by Polyploidization

Polyploids may be:

• Autopolyploid
• Individuals produced when a mutation results in a doubling of the chromosome number
• Chromosomes are all from the same species

• Allopolyploid
• Individuals are created when parents of different species mate and an error in mitosis
occurs, resulting in viable, nonsterile offspring
• Produces offspring with two different sets of chromosomes

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RECAP of Chapter # 24: New Species Through Hybridization
Possible Outcomes of Secondary Contact Between Populations
Process
Fusion of the populations The two populations freely interbreed.
Reinforcement of If hybrid offspring have low fitness, natural selection
divergence favours the evolution of traits that prevent
interbreeding between the populations.
Hybrid zone formation There is a well-defined geographic area where
hybridization occurs. This area may move over time
or be stable.
Extinction of one If one population or species is a better competitor
population for shared resources, then the poorer competitor
may be driven to extinction.
Creation of new species If the combination of genes in hybrid offspring
allows them to occupy distinct habitats or use novel
resources, they may form a new species.
Example
Occurs whenever populations of the same species
come into contact.
Appears to be common in fruit fly species that
occupy the same geographic areas.
Many stable hybrid zones have been described;
the hybrid zone between hermit and Townsend’s
warblers appears to have moved over time.
Townsend’s warblers may be driving hermit
warblers to extinction.
Hybridization between sunflowers gave rise to a
new species with unique characteristics.
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BLG144: BIOLOGY II
Chapter 25: Phylogenies
Department of Chemistry & Biology
Tarushika Vasanthan, PhD
Faculty of Science
Department of Chemistry & Biology

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Introduction to Phylogenies and the History of Life

• Biologists must consider profound change in the nature of life on Earth over vast periods of
time

• Biologists use two major analytical tools to reconstruct the history of life:

1. Phylogenetic trees
2. The fossil record

• Can be used separately or in combination

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Tools for Studying History: Phylogenetic Trees

• The evolutionary history of a group of organisms is called a phylogeny

• A phylogenetic tree
• Is a graphical summary of this history
• Shows evolutionary relationships among genes, species and higher taxa

• The most universal phylogenetic tree is the tree of life

• Depicts evolutionary relationships among all living organisms

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Tools for Studying History: Phylogenetic Trees

• Phylogenetic trees have revolutionized the study of evolution, can be used in

ü taxonomy to define species

ü medicine to study the spread of disease
ü forensics to identify a body
ü identifying species that are a conservation priority
ü agriculture to identify wild species for breeding with current crops

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Tools for Studying History: Phylogenetic Trees

• A branch represents a population through time

• A node (fork) represents a point where a branch splits— hypothetical most recent ancestor

• A tip (terminal node) represents the endpoint of a branch— a living or extinct taxon

• Closely related taxa are depicted as sister groups that share a recent common ancestor

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THINK – PAIR - SHARE

Are these trees the same?

A A

B C

C B

D E

E D

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Tools for Studying History: Phylogenetic Trees

• The root is the most ancestral branch in the tree

• An outgroup is a taxon that diverged before the taxa that are the focus of the phylogeny and
helps to root the tree

• A polytomy is a node that divides into 3 or more branches suggesting that not enough data
were available to resolve which taxa are most closely related

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How Do Biologists Estimate Phylogenies?

• As with other measurements, the relationships among taxa cannot be known with absolute
certainty

• Relationships depicted in phylogenetic trees must be estimated from the best available data

• Phylogenetic trees are hypotheses that can be tested

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Creating the Data Matrix

• The first step in inferring evolutionary relationships to determine which taxa to compare and
which characteristics to use
• A character or trait is any:
• Genetic, morphological, physiological, or behavioural characteristic to be studied
• Each character has two possible states: present (1) or absent (0)

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Creating the Data Matrix

• An outgroup is a sister group that shares a recent common ancestor with taxa being studied,
but is not part of the study group
• Is used to establish whether a trait is ancestral or derived
• An ancestral trait is a character that existed in an ancestor
• A derived trait is one that is a modified form of the ancestral trait
• Found in a descendant à originate via mutation, selection, and genetic drift
• Ancestral & derived traits are relative— they depend on what taxa are being compared

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Creating the Data Matrix – LET’S PRACTICE

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Using the Data Matrix to Estimate a Tree

• Cladistic approach was the first method to infer phylogenetic trees

• Introduced by Willi Hennig in the 1960s
• Based on reconstructing relationships among species by identifying synapomorphies
(shared derived traits)

• Synapomorphies
• Traits found in two or more taxa that are present in their most recent common ancestor but
missing in more distant ancestors
• Allow biologists to recognize monophyletic groups— called clades or lineages
• A monophyletic group is an evolutionary unit that includes an ancestral population and
all of its descendants, but no others

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Using the Data Matrix to Estimate a Tree

• There are several possible complications to resolve when inferring a tree:

1. Traits may be similar due to independent evolution and not common ancestry

2. A reversal in a character change may occur, creating the appearance that no change
occurred. Example: Loss of limbs in snakes

3. Species may form monophyletic groups based on one trait but part of a different
monophyletic group using another trait. Example: Snakes and lizards group together based
on presence of an amniotic egg but not based on presence of limbs

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Using the Data Matrix to Estimate a Tree

• Parsimony
• Used to identify the most likely tree
• Is a principle of logic
• States that the most likely explanation or pattern is the one that implies the least
amount of change

• Computer programs can compare theoretically possible branching patterns to determine the
most parsimonious tree
• The tree with the least evolutionary change is likely the one that most accurately reflects what
occurred during evolution

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Using the Data Matrix to Estimate a Tree

• Other methods exist, example: Genetic distance

methods, likelihood methods, and Bayesian methods

• All have a similar function—to serve as a “filter” to

identify optimal trees
• Some researchers use multiple methods to increase
confidence in their results
• Trees (called cladograms) that are created using
cladistics focus on branching patterns. Branch length is
arbitrary
• Other methods create trees where branch length
represents genetic distance or time since divergence.
Scale bars are present in these trees

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How Can Biologists Distinguish Homology from Homoplasy

• Homology - traits are similar due to shared ancestry

• Homoplasy - traits are similar for reasons other than common ancestry
• Convergent evolution is a common cause of homoplasy
• Natural selection favours similar solutions to similar environmental pressures

• Within a species, some characteristics may be homologous with characteristics in other species,
while others may be convergent

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Are the Flowers of Water Lilies Homologous or Convergent?

• Many plants have reproductive structures called flowers

• They are diverse in appearance but have the same function—to house male and female
gametes and facilitate fertilization

• Phylogenetic evidence—water lilies and roses are in a monophyletic group called angiosperms,
where all lineages have flowers
• Suggests that flowers are inherited from a common ancestor that also had flowers

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Are the Flowers of Water Lilies Homologous or Convergent?

• Structural evidence—most flowers are

built upon the same template

• Genetic and developmental evidence—

the genetic tool kit and developmental
patterns for development of floral
structures are similar in different plants
involving the same genes

• The agreement of all four types of data

provides strong evidence that flowers in
diverse plant types are homologous

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Tools for Studying History: The Fossil Record

• The fossil record provides the only direct evidence about

• What organisms that lived in the past looked like
• Where they lived
• When they existed

• A fossil is the physical evidence from an organism that lived in the past

• The fossil record is the total collection of fossils that have been found throughout the world

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How Do Fossils Form?

• Processes that form fossils begin when part or all of an organism is buried in sediment
• Once burial occurs, several things can happen:

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Fossilization is a Rare Event

• Fossils form only under ideal conditions

1. They must be buried rapidly
2. They must decompose slowly

• Fossilization is an extremely rare event, and the discovery of individual fossils is also rare

• There are 12 specimens of Archaeopteryx, the first birdlike dinosaur to appear in the fossil
record
• As far as researchers currently know, only one out of every 200,000,000 individuals were
fossilized and discovered

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Limitations of the Fossil Record

• Analyzing fossils is the only way scientists can examine the physical appearance of extinct forms
and infer how they lived, however it is not without its limitations:

1. Habitat bias
• Organisms that live where sediment is actively being deposited (e.g., beaches, swamps) are
more likely to fossilize than are organisms in other habitats
• In these habitats, burrowing organisms are more likely to fossilize compared to organisms
living above ground

2. Taxonomic and tissue bias

• Some organisms (e.g., those with hard parts such as bones or shells) are more likely to
decay slowly and leave fossil evidence
• Tissues with a tough outer coat that resists decay (e.g., pollen) fossilize more readily

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Limitations of the Fossil Record

3. Temporal bias
• More recent fossils are more common than ancient fossils

4. Abundance bias
• Organisms that are abundant, widespread, and present for a long time leave evidence much
more often than do species that are rare, local, or ephemeral

• Analyzing fossils is the only way scientists can examine the physical appearance of extinct
forms and infer how they lived.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Draw and interpret phylogenetic trees, and explain how they depict
specific hypotheses of evolutionary relatedness.

Describe how fossils form. List the major strengths and limitations of the
fossil record.

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