Phylogenetic Trees and Evolution

Phylogenetic trees show how organisms are related through evolution. They map the diversification of organisms or groups of organisms over time. In biology, a named group is called a taxon, and the plural is taxa. Taxa can be broad or narrow. They may include all birds, which form the class Aves, or a smaller group such as a...

Phylogeny describes the ancestral relationships between organisms. The connections often take the form of a tree called the Phylogenetic tree, with tips, branches, nodes —points where branches meet, and roots.

The phylogenetic tree represents evolutionary relationships inferred from morphological or molecular data.

The ...