Part 3: Tools and Techniques in Modern Systematics

 Systematics has evolved from physical observations to digital analysis. Today, systematists use:

🧪 Molecular Techniques:

• DNA Barcoding (COI, rbcL, ITS)

• Whole-genome sequencing

• Molecular clocks for divergence time estimation

💻 Computational Tools:

• BLAST – for sequence similarity

• MEGA, RAxML, IQ-TREE – for phylogenetic tree construction

• iTOL, FigTree – for tree visualization

• Clustal Omega, MAFFT – for multiple sequence alignment

🗂 Databases:

• NCBI GenBank

• BOLD Systems

• TreeBASE

These tools bring in silico power to a field that was once based entirely on field notes and microscope slides.