Using Phylogenetic Trees as an Investigative Tool in an Introductory Biology Course

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2013, Volume 34

Janice M. Bonner

Abstract

Although cladograms and phylogenetic trees are included in college biology textbooks more and more regularly, students frequently have little idea of how these structures are developed or of how they function as experimental tools for biologists. This workshop describes a laboratory exercise in which students are presented with experimental phylogenetically-based questions. For each question, students use morphological characters provided by the instructor to develop a cladogram. Students then use the cladogram as their hypothesis which they test by developing a phylogenetic tree using either a protein or nucleic acid database in Biology WorkBench.

Keywords:  systematics, phylogenetics, cladograms

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2012)