PS_Molecular Systematics

Which of the following methods is distance-based for constructing phylogenetic trees?

• Maximum Parsimony

• Maximum Likelihood

• Neighbor Joining

• Bayesian Inference

Maximum Parsimony selects the best tree based on:

• The tree with the longest total branch length

• The fewest number of evolutionary changes

• The tree with the highest likelihood

• Posterior probability

Bayesian Inference provides a single “best” tree like Maximum Likelihood.

• True

• False

Which software is commonly used for Bayesian phylogenetic analysis?

• MEGA

• MrBayes

• ClustalW

• PAUP*

Bootstrap values are used to:

• Measure branch support in NJ, MP, and ML trees

• Sequence DNA samples

• Align sequences before tree building

• Set the evolutionary model

Neighbor Joining uses individual DNA characters to construct a tree.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

(Explanation: NJ is distance-based, using pairwise distances, not individual nucleotide characters.)

Which of the following is a character-based method?

• Neighbor Joining

• Maximum Likelihood

• UPGMA

• Distance matrix

In a phylogenetic tree, a clade represents:

• A group of species sharing the same habitat

• A group of species sharing a common ancestor

• All species in the dataset

• A group of unrelated species

Posterior probabilities in Bayesian trees range from 0 to 1, indicating the probability of a branch being correct.

• True

• False

Which of the following steps comes first after receiving DNA sequence results from a sequencing company?

• Phylogenetic tree construction

• Sequence alignment

• Bootstrap analysis

• Posterior probability calculation