Imagine that a researcher has created two possible phylogenetic trees for a group of organisms-one that hypothesizes that five character changes occurred in a given group, and one that predicts only two character changes occurred in the same group. If the researcher wants to choose a phylogenetic tree based on parsimony, she will pick the phylogenetic tree with two character changes as her working hypothesis.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The principle of parsimony, often used in phylogenetic analysis, favors the simplest scientific explanation that fits the evidence. In this case, the tree predicting fewer character changes (two instead of five) is considered simpler and thus would be chosen based on parsimony.

Imagine That a Researcher Has Created Two Possible Phylogenetic Trees