The fundamental idea behind parsimony is
A)that the best phylogeny is the one that both explains the observed character data and posits the fewest evolutionary changes.
B)to provide a second approach to inferring phylogenetic relationships.
C)to compute the number of morphological or molecular differences between two or more species or populations.
D)that morphological traits cannot be used to reconstruct phylogenetic history.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Parsimony assumes that the best hypothesis of evolutionary relationships is the one that requires the fewest evolutionary changes (i.e. the fewest number of character state transitions) to explain the observed patterns of species or gene characteristics. This is because fewer evolutionary changes are viewed as a more likely scenario than more changes, which are viewed as less likely to have occurred. Therefore, by minimizing the number of changes required to explain the data, parsimony aims to identify the most likely phylogenetic relationships among groups of organisms or genes.

The Fundamental Idea Behind Parsimony Is