Compare and contrast cladistics and phylogeny. What are their advantages and disadvantages? Which is the most useful in understanding how an organism developed into its current form? Which concept most strongly supports your opinion about the origin of any given organism?

Question

anonymous · Answer

@chevygurl96 Do you know what they are?

anonymous · Answer

yes i know wat they are cladistics are method of classification of animals and plants according to the proportion of measurable characteristics that they have in common. It is assumed that the higher the proportion of characteristics that two organisms share, the more recently they diverged from a common ancestor. 
and 
phylogeny is the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms, or of a particular feature of an organism.

anonymous · Answer

@chevygurl96 Not quite.  A cladogram makes no such inherent assumption of evolutionary relationships.  It simply a hierarchal grouping method designed to separate species into groups of increasing likeness and uniqueness.  However, despite the lack of any such inherent evolutionary inference, most cladograms do make an evolutionary statement.

Phylogenies on the other hand are an attempt to explain the evolutionary pattern in a group.  So, phylogenies, by definition, have to have an inherent evolutionary inference of the test group.  I say "group" because it can be species, sub-species, families, orders, genes, etc.  

Cladistics is first and foremost a taxonomy method.  The thing is, taxonomy, despite what is often taught at the introductory and intermediary levels of Biology, is a scheme to identify species and how to separate them from other species.  When it is combined with studying the evolutionary relationships among groups it becomes Systematics.  Unfortunately, even dictionaries provide erroneous definitions.  At least one dictionary I have treats taxonomy and systematics as the same thing.

anonymous · Answer

ok ty

anonymous · Answer

I think you probably have the last two questions now, but do you have a bit for the advantages and disadvantages of both? @chevygurl96