1. Travis Kibota Ron Swisher Jim Hearne
Verifying Morphologically Based Finch Taxonomy by Appeal to Sequence Data
Travis Kibota
Ron Swisher
Jim Hearne

2. Problem for Students
Problem: Verify that the morphologically based classification is confirmed by the mt DNA nucleotide sequence data from Sato’s 1996 PNAS paper.
Our Goal: Make creative use of Workbench tools.

3. Methodology Try to confirm a phylogenetic tree using ClustalW.
Data from three different genera and 49 species.

4. Unrooted Tree of all Finches from ClustalW

5. Rooted Tree of All Finches from ClustalW
Camarhynchus (Tree Finches)
Certhidia (Warbler Finches)
Platyspiza (Vegetarian Finches)
Geospiza (Ground Finches)

6. Alternate Methodology
Generate a sequence of overlapping alignments/trees and make inferences from the result
Results still unrevealing

7. Combining Tree Still Difficult, partly because of normalization

8. Benefits of the Confusing Trees
Trees did reveal conspicuous outliers
Suggested better informed methodology:
Align whole genera with one known outlier to overcome normalization.
Comparison of molecular phylogenetic trees with classification based on morphology.

9. First Conclusion
The genera are internally coherent, clustering and separating from other genera
Species, however, do not cohere; there is evidence of hybridization.

10. Pedagogic Conclusion
Initial question requires creativity in the use of the tools.
Good practical exercise of the tools with proper initial guidance
Project recapitulates published research, so there is a strong resource for students to fall back on (results are not clear but pose questions students can use as hints).

11. Supporting Paper
Additional data on hybrid finches is available in the literature.