Since so many discussions here rely on the ability to understand and interpret phylogenies, I wanted to recommend Ryan Gregory’s excellent article, Understanding Evolutionary Trees, which some here may be familiar with already. It gives a brief primer on how to interpret phylogenies and avoid common misconceptions that seriously compromise comprehension and lead to misinterpretations. Enjoy!
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My favorite part is the list of misconceptions. I have encountered all of them at one time or another, several of them here on Peaceful Science. Good introduction to tree-thinking.
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Yes, that’s definitely the best part. I’ve also encountered many of the misconceptions out in the wild, mostly while teaching undergrads.
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Can you list out the key misconceptions here?
Here’s the list:
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Higher and lower
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Main line and side tracks
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Reading across the tips
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Similarity vs. relatedness
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Sibling vs. ancestor
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Long branch implies no change or Less diverse equals basal equals ancestral
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Different lineage ages for modern species
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Backwards time axes
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More intervening nodes equals more distantly related
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Change only at nodes
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