Phylogeny Is The Study Of Evolutionary Relationships

Phylogeny is the study of evolutionary relationships. In the 1970s-80s, cladistics was introduced as a method of phylogenetic analysis. A phylogenetic tree made in the manner of cladistics that connects ancestors to descendants is known as the tree of life. Charles Darwin completed the first known drawing of a tree of life in his book ‘Origin of Species’. Unrooted trees can be made, but these are not as useful as they simply connect descendants and do not plot a common ancestor. Phylogeny is linked to taxonomy – the hierarchical classification of organisms. The groups represented in the tree of life can sometimes match taxonomic groups, but often don’t. This is because of convergent evolution, the evolution of similar traits due to similar selective pressures. For example, the wings of bats and birds evolved independently. Convergent evolution makes identifying common ancestors difficult. Therefore, evaluating DNA is often used as a more reliable method of determining evolutionary relationships, over just observing morphology alone. To begin, phylogeny is based on the belief that life has only evolved once through neo-Darwinism. This theory of evolution is a combination of Darwin’s evolutionary work and new discoveries into the area of evolution – it states life evolved once through descent, following Mendell’s laws of inheritance, with modification. Evolutionary relationships are concluded based on homologous characters, similarity due to common ancestry. AnalogousShow MoreRelatedThe World Of Living Primates1351 Words   |  6 PagesPrimates The evolutionary of living primates has taken place over millions of years of geological time. It has evolved thousands of species, millions of generations, and billions of individuals. The world of primates have not been unwrapping completely yet. 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