Re: [DIYbio] What is a plant?

We actually have a proposed taxonomic system which does away with a nested hierarchy of ranks in favor of naming nodes on trees, known as the PhyloCode. It's rather contentious, I think. Personally, I find ranks somewhat useful; if you're encountering named clades for the first time, it's hard to tell how they're related to each other. (Can you tell, at a glance, whether Opisthokonta is a subset of Ecdysozoa, or the other way around?) There's also a lot of names. (I never remember the difference between hominins, hominoids, and hominids.)

The phylogenetic networks program that I know about is SplitsTree: http://www.splitstree.org/
I'm not terribly familiar with phylogenetic network theory, mostly because it seems like you generally don't need it when you're dealing with animals.
This is the resource that I've previously run into on phylogenetic networks, although there are other (possibly better) things out there: http://phylonetworks.blogspot.com

If you asked me what a plant was, I'd say that it's an informal classification with no strict meaning in phylogenetic systematics, akin to 'fish' or 'reptile,' but really you might as well pick Viridiplantae/Chlorophyta or Streptophyta and run with that.

—T.

> On Jan 11, 2016, at 6:41 PM, Xabier Vázquez Campos <xvazquezc@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The modern taxonomy tries to incorporate the phylogenetic data we have, and so, represent the evolutionary history of life. It's not just based on opinion. But as Dennis says, the taxonomy will never provide a perfect classification, as it is based in the idea of an immutable world, and the evolution is a continuous change that's why when you talk about the evolutionary history of a given species/phyla ... you would often have to use many clade names that do not correspond to any of the taxonomic ranks. And high-rank phylogenetics aren't as easy as resolving the phylogeny within a genus or family.
>
> Dennis, some modern models can build phylogenies with interconnected branches to indicate HGT (Horizontal Gene transfer) events.
>
> Following the proposal of Cavalier-Smith (2002), Plantae would include all that contain chloroplasts derived from a single endosymbiotic event in which the host cell engulfed a Cyanobacteria, and so, the plastids have two membranes. For this reason, Plantae is often referred to as Archaeplastidia, old plastids, to differentiate those taxa that have acquired plastids in a secondary endosymbiotic event, e.g. Euglenozoa.
>
> Based on ITIS, Plantae (kingdom) would include:
> • Viridiplantae: green algae, vascular plants, mosses, etc
> • Biliphyta
> • Glaucophyta
> • Rhodophyta (red algae)
> Although I'm a bit into phylogenetics, "plants" are outside of my scope, and I couldn't find a exact response about what to call plant that would be universally accepted right now. This is well explained in the wiki
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant#Current_definitions_of_Plantae
>
>
>
>
> John, oxygenic or anoxygenic photosynthesis? Even if you refer to oxygenic photosynthesis you would include cyanos, which by no means are plants
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, 12 January 2016 08:14:35 UTC+11, Sebastian wrote:
> It may sound like a silly question but there are some interesting overlaps and exceptions to most definitions. So guys and gals:
>
> What is a plant?
>
> Sebastian S. Cocioba
> CEO & Founder
> New York Botanics, LLC
> Blog: ATinyGreenCell.com
>
>
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