Systematics
Systematics
Charles Darwin “On the Origin of species”
• He used a tree as an analogy to demonstrate that all of the species
originated from one or two species.
• He imagined that organisms’ evolution could be represented by a branching
tree, with more recently evolved organisms at the tips of the outer branches
while the more ancient or extinct ones are at the inner branches or at the
base.
• He envisioned that the ancestral groups of species reside from the bottom of
the tree, with the branches containing related species and the tips of twigs
representing the individual living species.
Systematics
Tree of Life
It represented the diversity of life forms on earth during the time of Ernst
Haeckel.
Limitations of “tree of life”
The pace or tempo of evolution, cannot be reflected in the length of the
branches in the evolutionary tree
Tree of life -> Evolutionary tree of life
It is used in the field of taxonomy as basis for classifying organisms.
Systematics
Systematics – a modern approach to classification which focuses on analyzing the diversity of organisms in
the context of their natural relationship. It incorporates taxonomy and phylogenetics.
Taxonomy is the science of describing, naming, and classifying species.
Phylogenetics is the science that focuses on the evolutionary history of a group of species.
Phylogenetic Tree
Phylogenetic tree is an illustration or a diagram used to
visually present the evolutionary relationships or
variability among groups of organisms.
Phylogenetic Tree
Phylogenetic tree is an illustration or a diagram used to
visually present the evolutionary relationships or
variability among groups of organisms.
Cladistics
Cladistics is a common method used by taxonomist to create an evolutionary tree.
It relies on common ancestry as basis for establishing the classification on how organisms descended from a
common ancestor.
The assumptions of cladistics are:
Groups pf related species descended from a common ancestor
Branching patterns symbolizes relationships among groups, with new evolutionary group arising from a common
ancestor; and
Characteristics change overtime.
Cladistics
Cladistic analysis define groups by distinguishing between ancestral and derived characters.
Ancestral characters are traits inherited from the common ancestor of the group.
Derived ancestor are features that are different from those present in the group.
Cladograms
Cladograms are depicts the pattern of
shared derived traits among groups of
organisms
These are tree diagrams that can represent
the evolutionary relationship among
species.
Molecular Phylogeny
Molecular Phylogeny is a branch of
biology that studies the relationship of
organisms based on their DNA and
protein compositions using computer
algorithms.
Molecular Phylogeny
Molecular Phylogeny is a branch of
biology that studies the relationship of
organisms based on their DNA and
protein compositions using computer
algorithms.
Molecular Clocks
Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl
They proposed a new method of measuring evolutionary time
in the early 1960’s
They were able to discover how distantly related the two
species by comparing the amount of amino acid differences of
hemoglobin with different range of species.
Molecular clock is a model that uses mutation rates to measure
evolutionary time.
Molecular Clocks
Comparison of Molecular Data and Fossil Record
Animal Amino acid differences Appearance in fossil
compared with humans record (Millions of
years ago)
Mouse 16 70
Horse 18 70
Bird 35 270
Frog 62 350
Shark 79 450
