Have you read the introduction of cladistics and the formation of the graphs between different animals? In this IBDP Biology Blog post, we will look at the animal tree diagram and how it is constructed and classified. Let's get to it !
Cladograms
Cladograms: Tree diagrams that show most probable sequence of divergence in clades
Features:
- Root
The initial ancestor common to all organisms
- Node
Hypothetical common ancestor that speciated to give rise to two or more daughter taxa
- Outgroup
Most distantly related species which functions as a point of comparison
- Clades
A common ancestor and all of its decendents (node and its branches)
Reclassification
Classification allows us to see evolutionary relationships
Organisms that are grouped together share many homologous features, however only classifying based on structure is problamatic
Nowadays DNA evidence is far more accurate and trustworthy
- Figworts had 275 Genera
- Taxonomists discovered that the Figwort species should be classified into 5 different clades when examining chloroplast genes
- Reclassification helped to simplify and better understand the Figwort species
And that's the end!
Drafted by Venetia (Biology)