The uses and abuses of tree thinking in cultural evolution

Modern phylogenetic methods are increasingly being used to address questions about macro-level patterns in cultural evolution. These methods can illuminate the unobservable histories of cultural traits and identify the evolutionary drivers of trait change over time, but their application is not without pitfalls. Here, we outline the current scope of research in cultural tree thinking, highlighting a toolkit of best practices to navigate and avoid the pitfalls and ‘abuses' associated with their application. We emphasize two principles that support the appropriate application of phylogenetic methodologies in cross-cultural research: researchers should (1) draw on multiple lines of evidence when deciding if and which types of phylogenetic methods and models are suitable for their cross-cultural data, and (2) carefully consider how different cultural traits might have different evolutionary histories across space and time. When used appropriately phylogenetic methods can provide powerful insights into the processes of evolutionary change that have shaped the broad patterns of human history. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Foundations of cultural evolution'.

The Uses and Abuses of Tree Thinking in Cultural Evolution

Modern phylogenetic methods are increasingly being used to address questions about macro-level patterns in cultural evolution. These methods can illuminate the unobservable histories of cultural traits and identify the evolutionary drivers of trait-change over time, but their application is not without pitfalls. Here we outline the current scope of research in cultural tree thinking, highlighting a toolkit of best practices to navigate and avoid the pitfalls and ‘abuses’ associated with their application. We emphasise two principles that support the appropriate application of phylogenetic methodologies in cross-cultural research: researchers should (1) draw on multiple lines of evidence when deciding if and which types of phylogenetic methods and models are suitable for their cross-cultural data, and (2) carefully consider how different cultural traits might have different evolutionary histories across space and time. When used appropriately phylogenetic methods can provide powerful insights into the processes of evolutionary change that have shaped the broad patterns of human history.

Phyloreferences: Tree-Native, Reproducible, and Machine-Interpretable Taxon Concepts

Evolutionary and organismal biology, similar to other fields in biology, have become inundated with data. At the same rate, we are experiencing a surge in broader evolutionary and ecological syntheses for which tree-thinking is the staple for a variety of post-tree analyses. To fully take advantage of this wealth of data to discover and understand large-scale evolutionary and ecological patterns, computational data integration, i.e. the use of machines to link data at large scale by shared entities, is crucial. The most common shared entity by which evolutionary and ecological data need to be linked is the taxon to which they belong. In this paper, we propose a set of requirements that a system for defining such taxa should meet for computational data science: taxon definitions should maintain conceptual consistency, be reproducible via a known algorithm, be computationally automatable, and be applicable across the tree of life. We argue that Linnaean names based in Linnaean taxonomy, by far the most prevalent means of linking data to taxa, fail to meet these requirements due to fundamental theoretical and practical shortfalls. We argue that for the purposes of data-integration we should instead use phylogenetic clade definitions transformed into formal logic expressions. We call such expressions phyloreferences, and argue that, unlike Linnaean names, they meet all requirements for effective data-integration.

Analisis Butir Soal Kemampuan Tree Thinking Pada Instrumen Uji Coba Materi Spermathophyta

This study aims to analyze the ability of Tree Thinking in students. This type of research is quantitative descriptive, the instrument used in the form of test items on Tree Thinking items on Spermatophyta material. This item is a multiple choice with 5 options. The results of this study are information in the form of item validity, distinguishing features, and level of difficulty of the questions. The results of the analysis show the quality of the items, valid at 95% while those that are not valid at 5%. Based on the ability to distinguish the questions, 10% is considered satisfactory, 50% is categorized as good and 40% is categorized as very good. Difficulties about the data obtained are 85% in the medium category, and 15% are in the difficult category. Data analysis shows that the item has a high validity while the distinguishing power is classified as good and the level of difficulty of the item is classified as moderate. Abstrak. Analisis kemampuan Tree Thinking pada siswa dilakukan menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif. Instrumen yang digunakan berupa hasil tes butir soal Tree Thinking pada materi Spermatophyta. Butir soal ini berupa pilihan ganda dengan 5 opsi. Objek yang diteliti adalah 20 butir soal pilihan ganda yang di ujikan pada kelas XI. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah informasi berupa validitas butir soal, daya pembeda, dan tingkat kesukaran soal. Hasil analisis menunjukkan kualitas butir soal, yang valid sebesar 95% sedangkan yang tidak valid sebesar 5%. Berdasarkan daya pembeda soal menunjukkan 10% dikategorikan memuaskan, 50% dikategorikan baik dan 40% dikategorikan sangat baik. Kesukaran soal data yang di dapat yaitu 85% berada pada kategori sedang, dan 15% berada pada kategori sukar. Analisis data menunjukkan bahwa butir soal memiliki validitas tinggi sedangkan daya pembeda tergolong baik dan tingkat kesukaran soal tergolong sedang.

Who’s related to whom? Use published phylogenies and make customized tree-thinking assessments

A phylogeny depicts the hypothesized evolutionary relationships among taxa as a nested hierarchical branching diagram. Interpreting the relationships among taxa on a phylogeny is part of a set of skills called tree-thinking. Because published phylogenies are not constructed for the purpose of tree-thinking pedagogy, the information can be difficult for students to interpret and explicit instruction is required for mastery of the tree-thinking skill-set. We present a process to construct customizable assessment questions using published phylogenies, to assess a key tree-thinking skill, determining relatedness among taxa on a phylogeny. We detail how to construct two types of forced-choice questions: binary-choice and four-choice. In both question types, students are presented with a phylogeny and are instructed to determine which taxon from a list of taxa is most closely related to a focal taxon. The list of taxa includes distracters as possible responses explicitly selected based on common alternative strategies (similarity, proximity, node counting), in addition to the correct response. Instructors can select taxa of their own choosing in order to customize assessments. These assessment questions can be utilized during instruction as a formative assessment to enhance learning or in a summative assessment.

The Emergence Profile of Tree Thinking of Senior High School Students Through the Inquiry Based Learning

The use of tree thinking in learning biology is still rarely used. The purpose of this study was to identify the tree thinking emergence profile of senior high school students through the inquiry-based learning model. This research is using the experimental method. The approach used in this research is a qualitative approach. The population in this study was 36 students of class X in SMA Negeri Sukabumi. The samples were taken by using a purposive sampling technique. The data collection was performed using a written test in the form of LKS by using five tree thinking indicators. The results showed that the value of tree thinking students for the first indicator gained a percentage of 69% included in the good category, the second indicator obtained a percentage of 63% included in the good category, the third indicator received a percentage of 73% included in the good category, the fourth indicator obtained a percentage of 81% included in the very category good, and the fifth indicator gets a percentage of 52% included in the category enough. This result leads to the Student learning outcomes that are categorized as good because the students follow the learning by using models, strategies, and learning approaches that can improve their ability of tree thinking in Arthropoda subjects. This study suggests that the inquiry-based learning model can be used as an alternative in learning biology to improve tree thinking skills.

Exploratory Activities for Understanding Evolutionary Relationships Depicted by Phylogenetic Trees: United but Diverse

Evolution explains both the unity and the diversity of all organisms, and developing students' ability to represent and communicate evolutionary relationships is an important component of a complete biology education. We present a series of student-centered, exploratory activities to help students develop their tree-thinking skills. In these activities, students use complementary phenotypic and molecular data to explore how to build phylogenetic trees and interpret the evolutionary relationships they represent. This learning module is designed to engage students in the process of science, provide them with active learning experiences using online bioinformatics tools, and foster their appreciation for the evolutionary connections across the tree of life.