Science
Phylogenetic trees.
Definition
A phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among species or groups of organisms based on shared ancestry. Branch points (nodes) represent common ancestors, and the pattern of branching reflects how lineages diverged over time.
Examples
Real-world.
- 1 A tree showing that humans and chimpanzees share a more recent common ancestor than either shares with gorillas
- 2 Using DNA sequence comparison to build a phylogenetic tree of bird species
- 3 Cladograms showing that whales are more closely related to hippos than to fish