Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2016, Volume 37
Tania Bettis, Joshua Povich, Tamara Mau, & John Huelsenbeck
Abstract
The desire to engage introductory biology students in phylogenetic analysis using real data and
current research methods can be inhibited by the complexity and multitude of command linedriven
programs typically used for these analyses. We have developed a graphical user interface
(GUI) that combines the components of phylogenetic analysis into one student-friendly
application, RevBayes. In this hands-on demonstration, participants will address evolutionary
questions regarding the relationships among primates using actual data. They will begin by
making observations of primate skeletons from an interactive online database (eSkeletons.org) and
then evaluate hypotheses about evolutionary relationships using RevBayes to generate the most
parsimonious phylogenetic trees. They will identify where relationships are well-resolved and
where additional lines of evidence are needed. Molecular data from GenBank is then added to give
an increasingly clear hypothesis about relationships within the group. RevBayes allows students to
focus on the central concepts of phylogene
Keywords: phylogenetic analysis
Boston University (2015)
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