[Taxacom] SUSPECT: Re: Molecules vs Morphology‏

[Richard Zander]

Molecular data is commonly not weighted phyletically, just like phenetics. To some extent, then it is "automatic classification" and "theory free" just like phenetics. How to weight DNA sites is, of course, nothing I can contribute.

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Richard H. Zander 
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Missouri Botanical Garden
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-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Jason Mate
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 3:34 PM
To: Taxacom
Subject: SUSPECT: Re: [Taxacom] Molecules vs Morphology‏
Sigh, not fair to use the "molecular data is phenetics" card when pressed into a corner. Because then your argument 
falls into a data quality issue which as I have been trying, unssuccessfully it seems, to point out, is a moot point as 
the distinction is not there. A large number of characters is a large number of characters. Mind you, I don´t mean that a sequence that is 1000bp long with 100bp which are variable and "informative" is better than 50 morphological characters.
Obviously a single point mutation cannot have the same weight as a morphological character (OK, some of the morphological 
characters out there are probably as weak but lets simplify the argument). However, if I have 50 genes, both nuclear and
mitochondrial, and they point one way, and the morphological data is in conflict... lets just say the morphological dataset 
needs some explaining.


Best

Jason

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