BIO 263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Neontology, Synapomorphy, Polytomy
Document Summary
Adaptations to similar selection pressures cause convergent evolution which leads to evolution. Huge evidence for evolution by natural selection. Example is long tongue of a wombat and of ant eater. Example is in plants where a lot of modifications of leaves lead to different structures. Homology at the level of dna sequenced data and genes/ sometimes includes the level f proteins. Example is the homology of human and fruitfly where there 90% identical in the gene aniridia. Very unlikely to be convergent evolution so best explanation is that they came from similar sequence. Example is that chicks humans and cats all have gill pouches and tails in the embryonic trait. Adult species with similarities that are too similar to each other to be from convergent evolution. Example is with vertebrate limb where they are all very similar in bone structure. Coding for genetic information and amino acid comes from a single common ancestor.
