1) Some researchers have argued that paraphyletic groups are not “real” and should not be used...

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Biology

1) Some researchers have argued that paraphyletic groups are not“real” and should not be used in scientific discussions. What doyou think?

2) The fact that organisms evolve by natural selection meansthat adaptive explanations make sense in biology. Does this meanthat every organismal trait has an adaptive explanation?

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1 A paraphyletic group is kind of like a group that consists of your parents and your siblings but not you Your parents are the ancestors of the group and the descendants are you and your siblings If you or any one of your brothers or sisters were left out of the group it would be paraphyletic because it includes ancestors and only some of the descendants In phylogenetics however the term paraphyletic or monophyletic or polyphyletic is usually used when describing a group of species and their evolutionary ancestors and not just a small family unit So the group does not give the true knowledge about the phylogeny 2 We tend to assume that all characteristics of plants and animals are adaptations that have arisen through natural selection Many are neither adaptations nor the result of selection at all Why do so many of us plonk ourselves down in front of the telly with a microwave meal after a tiring day Because its convenient Or because TV meals are the natural consequence of    See Answer
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