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AP Biology — Unit 7 — Phylogeny & Common Ancestry — Drill 32

Drill 32 ·

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About This Drill

AP Biology — Unit 7 — Phylogeny & Common Ancestry — Drill 32 is a practice drill. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Read and interpret a phylogenetic data table to determine evolutionary relationships, identify shared derived traits, and evaluate claims about common ancestry. This drill develops skills in cladogram reasoning and comparative biology.

Passage

Researchers studying plant evolution compared five species based on molecular sequence data and structural traits. They used chloroplast DNA sequence similarity (% identity to Species A), presence or absence of vascular tissue, seed production, and flower production to reconstruct evolutionary relationships.
Table 1. Trait and molecular data for five plant species.
SpecieschlDNA to A (%)Vascular TissueSeedsFlowers
A100YesYesYes
B97YesYesYes
C94YesYesNo
D88YesNoNo
E61NoNoNo

A cladogram constructed from this data places E as the outgroup (most distantly related). Among the remaining species, the branching order from most basal to most derived is: D → C → (A + B).
Derived traits are those that evolved later in the lineage and are shared only by some descendants; ancestral traits are those present in the common ancestor of the entire group.

Questions in This Drill

  1. Based on the cladogram described in the passage, which pair of species shares the most recent common ancestor?
  2. According to the data in Table 1, which trait is a shared derived trait (synapomorphy) that unites Species A, B, and C to the exclusion of D and E?
  3. A student states: "Species E must have lost vascular tissue over time, since it evolved from a common ancestor that had it." Evaluate this claim using the data.
  4. The chloroplast DNA sequence data is used alongside morphological traits in this study. Which of the following best explains why chloroplast DNA is often useful for reconstructing plant phylogenies?
  5. A sixth species (F) is discovered with the following data: chlDNA 93% identity to A, vascular tissue present, seeds present, flowers absent. Based on the cladogram described in the passage, where would Species F most likely be placed?