BIOLOGY 152 Chapter Notes - Chapter 23: Monophyly, Phylogenetics, Polyphyly
Document Summary
Evolution produces two distinct but related patterns, both evident in nature. Nested pattern of similarities among species on present day earth. Historical pattern of evolution recorded by fossils. Distinct populations of an ancestral species separate and diverge through time, again and again, giving rise to multiple descendant species. A phylogenetic tree represents evolutionary relationships that result from successive speciation events. Node: the nearest fork in a branch/ the branch point. Represents the most recent common ancestor of two descendant species. (ex. In a family tree, the mother and father have a branch that separates into each of their children) The first branch point represents the common ancestor of all organisms in the tree. Taxon/taxa (plural): organisms at the tips of the branch. (it is the branching among taxa that represents evolutionary relatedness, not the order of the taxa along the tips)
