BISC 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Phylogenetic Tree, Theropoda, Monophyly
21 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Fossils are one source: traces of organism that lived in the past. Many different mode of preservation: permineralization (petrifaction), impressions, compressions, casts and moulds, tracks, original materials. The many fossils that have been found and described in the scientific literature make up the fossil record which spans geological time from 3. 5 billion years ago to recent. Morphology, embryology, dna similarities are also important sources of evidence for evolutionary history of organisms (phylogeny) Darwin was more interested in endemic mockingbirds than finches. Three distinct species are restricted to single islands in the galapagos but are clearly related to other species in the archipelago. Rare dispersal events between environment followed by evolution in relative isolation on each island, leading to different populations on each. There are no fossils of mockingbirds here, so use other data to trace evolutionary history: Patterns: although the mockingbirds are extremely similar, distinct species.
