← Back to CoursesEvolutionary Biology: Beginner

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Phylogeny and the Tree of Life

Manual: General · Subject: Biology

How scientists infer evolutionary relationships among organisms.

Reading Evolutionary Relationships

Common ancestry

All living organisms are related through ancestry. A phylogeny is a diagram that represents hypotheses about these relationships.

How phylogenies are built

Scientists compare DNA, proteins, fossils, and anatomy to infer how lineages are related. Similarity can come from common ancestry, not just from living in similar environments.

Phylogeny vocabulary

Ancestor
A past organism or population from which others descend
Descendant
A later lineage that comes from an ancestor
Clade
An ancestor and all of its descendants
Homologous trait
A similarity due to common ancestry
Analogous trait
A similarity due to similar function, not common ancestry
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Homology vs analogy

Wings of birds and bats are homologous as forelimbs, but their ability to fly evolved independently as an analogous function.

What does a phylogeny show?

What is a clade?

A trait shared because of common ancestry is called what?