Chapter 27

PHYLOGENIES AND
THE HISTORY OF
LIFE
Tools for Studying the History of Life
 - Phylogenies: evolutionary histories of
groups (taxa) of organisms usually
depicted as trees.
 - note, phylogenies are hypotheses.
 - Fossils – collection continues to grow,
transitional forms are found and
relationships are refined.
Phylogenies as Trees
 “Estimates” or hypotheses of the relationships among organisms.
 Reading the tree:
 Root –

 Branches –

 Nodes (forks) –

 Branch Tips –

 Outgroup –
Phylogenies as Trees

 Types of phylogenies
 Monophyletic group or Clade -

 Paraphyletic group –

 Polyphyletic group –
Phylogenies as Trees
 How are they constructed?
 What would you look for or compare?
 Comparisons:
 Phenetic – based on computing a statistic showing
overall similarity among populations

 Cladistic – relationships among organisms based on

shared “derived” characteristics or synaptomorphies
 - characteristics derived from a common ancestor
Fig 27.1
Phylogenies as Trees
 How are they constructed?
 Problems:
 - Characteristics that arose independently in 2 or more

distantly related groups (analogous traits or homoplasy)

 - Loss of a derived characteristic in 1 or more closely

related groups
 - Lack of transitional forms

 Solution: Parsimony, the most logical, simplest

explanation, involves the least amount of change.
Two changes
T T T T T
GC GC G C G G G G
A C C A A
AA A A AA A A AA
1 2 3 4 5

AC CG

AAA GCT
Four changes
T T T T T
GC GC GG GC GG
A C A C A
AA AA AA AA AA
1 2 3 4 5
AC CG
CG
AC

AAA GCT
Fossils – Traces of Organisms from
the Past
 How are fossils formed?
 - Rapid burial

 - Lack of or very slow decay

Fig 27.5
Types of Fossils – fig 27.6
Types of Fossils – Fig 27.6
Fossils
 Limitations: the formation of fossils requires that
conditions be “just right”. Fossils may be formed or
found preferentially according to:
 Habitat – sediments form routinely

 Composition of organism – hard substances

fossilize better.
 Time line – ancient fossils disappear into the earth.

 Abundance – more abundant, more likely to find

fossils.
Fossils
 How do we determine the age of fossils?
 - Radiometric dating: using radioactive isotopes to
predict the age of rocks and other formations

 The ages of the Earth and its organisms have

been used to create Life’s Timeline, fig 26.9.
 - Divided into 4 major segments or eras, with further
divisions demonstrating major advancements, etc.
Fig 27.8
Fig 27.8
Fig 27.8
Fig 27.8
Cambrian Period (Paleozoic era)
 Significance: rapid diversification of the species.
 - Multicellular organisms
 - Rapid increase in size and complexity of organisms.

 Fossils from China (Doushantuo formation),

Australia, Ukraine, Siberia, etc. (Ediacaran
period), and Canada (Burgess Shale fossils)
deposits are unique – soft bodied animals.
Cambrian Period
 Fossil record – How did this “explosion” of
diversity happen?
 Diversity of Habitats
 Genetic changes
Evolution – the Process
 Natural Selection
 Natural selection and evolution requires genetic
change.
 Genetic changes:
 Gene duplication – multiple copies of genes
 Gene expression – timing and duration of
expression during development.
Genetic Mechanisms
 Newest Approach: “evo-devo”, evolution
and developmental studies combined.
 - Correlates evolutionary history, morphology
and genetic make-up of organisms.
 - The more characteristics that suggest a
relationship among organisms, the more
plausible the phylogenetic hypothesis.
Genetic Mechanisms
 Homeotic genes: direct the pattern of
development of organisms, universal.
Hypothesis: new genes = new bodies
 Gene duplication studies, fig 27.10
 Correlate well with the hypothesis. Early
branches show fewer homeotic gene clusters
and simpler bodies. Later branches show more
gene clusters and more complex bodies.
Fig 27.10
Genetic Mechanisms
 Gene duplication – discrepancies
 - The number of clusters and the complexity of
the organism do not always correlate, ex. zebra
fish and the mouse.
 - Loss of gene clusters (?)
Genetic Mechanisms
 Gene Expression
 - The time during embryogenesis when homeotic
genes are expressed and the duration of their
expression affects development.
Adaptive Radiations or Star
Phylogenies
 What are they? Fig 27.11.
Fig 27.11
Adaptive Radiations
 What causes radiations?
 Ecological Opportunity:

 Morphological Innovation:
Extinctions
 Mass extinctions - disappearances of large
numbers of species by an extraordinary,
sudden, temporary change in the
environment.
 Background Extinctions – the average rate
of disappearances of organisms caused by
normal variations in the environment or
competition.
Fig 27.14