Question 1 (Mandatory) (20 points)
You are studying a group of finches on the Galapagos Islands and trying to determine their evolutionary relationships.
Species A has a narrow beak, long tail feathers, yellow throat and long talons. Species B has a narrow beak, short tail
feathers, red throat and long talons. Species C has a narrow beak, short tail feathers, yellow throat and long talons.
Species D has a short beak, short tail feathers, red-colored throat and short talons. You know from prior research that
Species D is the furthest relative to the remaining species.
a) Based upon this information, complete the character table below. (5 marks)
Species A
Species B
Species C
Species D
TRAIT 1:
TRAIT 2:
TRAIT 3:
TRAIT 4:
b) Which species can be used as the outgroup and which species are the ingroup and why? Why is using an
outgroup important? (5 marks)
c) Draw the most parsimonious cladogram based on this information. (6 marks) (Be sure to show the species
AND location of the derived traits). You can hand-draw your cladogram or create it in draw, powerpoint, word,
etc, and attach the image or attach a file containing the image using the file attachment option located in the
QUESTION 8 section.
d) Describe two mathematical approaches that you can use to determine which tree that is the most probable? (4
marks)
