Cladograms - Weekly Blog (10/29-11/5)

Diagraming Evolution, or How to read a Cladogram by Patrick

Summary

Cladograms are diagrams that help us understand the relationships between organisms. At the end of a branch, we write the name of the organisms. For example, in the image above, the names of the organisms are kangaroo, koala, bat, and lion. Next, by looking for the line connected by two of the organisms, we can see what trait they have in common. In this example, we can see that the kangaroo and koala are both connected to a trait, Marsupialia. This means that kangaroo and koalas both belong to the group Marsupialia. Next, we can see that the trait that all of the organisms are connected to is Mammalia, meaning that all of the organisms on this cladogram are mammals.

How does knowing how to read a cladogram help us understand the relationships between organisms? By understanding how to read a cladogram, you can learn more about which organisms are closely related to each other, and which trait they have in common. For example, if we are asked if the Koala is more closely related to the kangaroo or the bat, we can see that the koala is more closely related to the kangaroo because it shares more traits in common. Similarly, the bat is more closely related to the lion because it shares a more common trait. As you can see, knowing how to read cladograms can help us learn more about the relationships between organisms.

SP2: Developing and Using Models

This week, we used models, also known as cladograms to represent the relationships between various organisms. By learning how to read cladograms, we were able to compare organisms to see which animals are more closely related, and which trait(s) they share in common. We used models to explain and predict the relationships between various animals and to see which organisms humans are more closely related to. Learning about models has helped me learn a lot more and understand the relationships between organisms.

XCC: Structure and Function

This week in class, I observed a structure and function relationships in cladograms. The structure and placement of organisms on cladograms affects the function, or how you interpret the cladogram. The function of a cladogram depends on the structure because how the cladogram is placed together affects the information on the cladogram. For example, in the image above, we can see that the kangaroo and koala are both connecting to a common trait. This is the structure of the cladogram. This leads to the function because now we can infer that the kangaroo and koala are close relatives, By learning about the structure and function of a cladogram, I have learned more about the relationships between organisms.