The Tree of Life The tree of life is a metaphor which expresses the idea that all life is related

by common descent. Charles Darwin was the first to use this metaphor in modern biology. It had been used many times before for other purposes. The evolutionary tree shows the relationships among various biological groups. It includes data from DNA, RNA and protein analysis. Tree of life work is a product of traditional comparative anatomy, and modern molecular evolution and molecular clock research. Below is a simplified version of present-day understanding. The model of a tree is still considered valid for eukaryotic life forms. Research into the earliest branches of the eukaryote tree suggests a tree with either four supergroups, or two supergroups. There does not yet appear to be a consensus; in a review article, Roger and Simpson conclude that "with the current pace of change in our understanding of the eukaryote tree of life, we should proceed with caution". Biologists now recognize that the prokaryotes, the bacteria and archaea have the ability to transfer genetic information between unrelated organisms through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Recombination, gene loss, duplication, and gene creation are a few of the processes by which genes can be transferred within and between bacterial and archaeal species, causing variation that is not due to vertical transfer. There is emerging evidence of HGT occurring within the prokaryotes at the single and multicell level and the view is now emerging that the tree of life gives an incomplete picture of life's evolution. It was a useful tool in understanding the basic processes of evolution but cannot explain the full complexity of the situation.

Natural Selection Natural selection is the means by which beneficial variations in a population tend to be preserved while unfavorable variations tend to be lost. One of the key concepts behind the theory of natural

selection is that there is variation within populations. As a result of that variation, some individuals are better suited to their environment while other individuals are not so well-suited. Because members of a population must compete for finite resources, those better suited to their environment will out-compete those that are not as well-suited. Natural selection is a relatively simple theory that involves five basic assumptions. The theory of natural selection can be better understood by identifying the basic principles on which it relies. Those principles, or assumptions, include: Struggle for existence - More individuals in a population are born each generation than will survive and reproduce. Variation - Individuals within a population are variable. Some individuals have different characteristics than others. Differential survival and reproduction - Individuals that have certain characteristics are better able to survive and reproduce than other individuals having different characteristics. Inheritance - Some of the characteristics that influence an individual's survival and reproduction are heritable. Time - Ample amounts of time are available to allow for change.

The result of natural selection is a change in gene frequencies within the population over time, that is individuals with more favorable characteristics will become more common in the population and individuals with less favorable characteristics will become less common.

Variation In genetic variation, the alleles of organisms within a population change. Gene variation is important to the process of natural selection. The genetic variations that arise in a population happen by chance, but the process of natural selection does not. Natural selection is the result of the interactions between genetic variations in a population and the environment. The environment determines which variations are more favorable. More favorable traits are thereby passed on to the population as a whole. Genetic variation occurs mainly through DNA mutation, gene flow (movement of genes from one population to another) and sexual reproduction. Due to the fact that environments are unstable, populations that are genetically variable will be able to adapt to changing situations better than those that do not contain genetic variation.

Heredity Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring (from its parent or ancestors). This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve. The study of heredity in biology is called genetics, which includes the field of epigenetics. In humans, eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents. Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome is called its genotype. The complete set of observable traits of the structure and behavior of an organism is called its phenotype. These traits arise from the interaction of its genotype with the environment. As a

result, many aspects of an organism's phenotype are not inherited. For example, suntanned skin comes from the interaction between a person's genotype and sunlight; thus, suntans are not passed on to people's children. However, some people tan more easily than others, due to differences in their genotype: a striking example is people with the inherited trait of albinism, who do not tan at all and are very sensitive to sunburn. Heritable traits are known to be passed from one generation to the next via DNA, a molecule that encodes genetic information.