Biology 1001A Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Flypaper, Carnivorous Plant, Parallel Evolution
16 Aug 2017
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Distinction between parallelism and convergence, and how both of these differ from homologous similarities. There is a tendency among organisms living under the same conditions to develop similar body forms. Convergent evolution is used when referring to phylogenetically more distantly related organisms; parallel evolution when referring to more closely related ones. Homologous structures -- structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry. Analogy -- the similarity of structure between two species that are not closely related; attributable to convergent evolution or the similarity of structure between two species that are closely related but not direct descendants; attributable to parallel evolution. Whether carnivorous plants have likely evolved once or multiple times, and thus whether this trait is homologous or homoplasious. In some places with an abundance of water and sunlight, nitrogen for plants can be in short supply. There are many ways that plants trap insects to directly (or indirectly) obtain nitrogen.
