When Chinese Masks Meet Phylogenetics

Abstract

Phylogenetics has a central role in the biological sciences. We suggest a hands-on exercise to demonstrate the task of character coding and its importance in phylogenetic systematics. This exercise is appropriate for undergraduate students in life sciences and related courses. The teacher must provide a single group of masks in which color patterns, textures, and formats provide the characters to fill the data matrix. (The masks could be replaced by a set of other complex objects.) In this case, because there is no actual phylogeny, students will not be concerned with recovering the correct topology. Character coding is the aim of the exercise. After the character matrix is completed, a phylogenetic tree is drawn and the students interpret the evolution of a single character, starting from the common ancestor, based on the topological pattern of the tree and on the data matrix. In sequence, the students name and provide a full diagnosis for the group of masks as revealed by the topological pattern. The comparison between group results is also educational: there will be some common patterns between trees, but others will differ as in biological systematics.

Science and evolution

“…This advantage will tend to increase population size and the geographical distribution of the ancestral species that will more likely speciate into two descendant species. Hence, according to this view, macroevolution is microevolution on a larger scale ( Zimmer, 2001 ), with biological speciation as the only additional process ( Russo et al , 2016 ). Through speciation, one ancestral species gives rise to two descendant species that are reproductively incompatible with each other.…”

Ancestralizando: Uma Atividade Lúdica Para O Ensino De Sistemática Filogenética No Ensino Médio

“…El juego Ancestralizando consta de un total de cuarenta y cinco cartas que representan diferentes especies de animales vivos y ancestros hipotéticos basados en la fauna del estado de Mato Grosso. La actividad se elaboró a partir del aporte teórico propuesto en uno de los artículos analizados (a saber, Russo et al 2016) donde los autores mostraron la posibilidad de desarrollar una actividad sistemática filogenética mediante de la observación de características morfológicas, construcción de cladogramas y producción de más árboles filogenéticos parsimoniosos. De esta forma, el docente que aplique este producto conducirá al alumno a plantear hipótesis y contrastarlas utilizando una metodología simplificada de sistemática filogenética, caracterizando la enseñanza por la investigación.…”

“…No entanto, mesmo dada a importância o tema na formação de discentes ao nível do ensino médio, materiais publicados relacionados ao ensino de sistemática filogenética são geralmente voltados ao ensino superior, a exemplo das propostas de Tuimala (2006) vão apresentar diferentes números de etapas, gerando árvores filogenéticas mais parcimoniosas (RUSSO et al 2016).…”

“…The Ancestralizando game consists of a total of forty-five cards representing different species of living animals and hypothetical ancestors based on the fauna of the State of Mato Grosso. The activity was elaborated from the theoretical contribution proposed in one of the analyzed articles (see Russo et al 2016), where the authors showed the possibility of developing a phylogenetic systematic activity through the observation of morphological characteristics, construction of cladograms and production of more parsimonious phylogenetic trees. In this way, the teacher who applies this product will lead the student to propose hypotheses and test them using a simplified methodology of phylogenetic systematics, characterizing teaching by investigation.…”

“…, McCabe(2014) eRusso et al (2016). Estes estudos mostraram possibilidades de atividades por meio da observação de características morfológicas, construção de cladogramas e produção de árvores filogenéticas mais parcimoniosas.…”