6.4.2 Evolutionary Trees

• What are evolutionary trees also known as?

  Phylogenetic trees
• Evolutionary trees illustrate how species have evolved and diverged from common ancestors
• Match the component of an evolutionary tree with its function:

  Root ↔️ Represents the common ancestor

  Branches ↔️ Depict evolutionary lineages

  Nodes ↔️ Indicate points of divergence

  Terminal Nodes ↔️ Represent living or extinct species
• What do terminal nodes or leaves of an evolutionary tree represent?

  Extant or extinct species
• What is one purpose of evolutionary trees?

  Classify evolutionary relationships
• What types of data are analyzed to construct evolutionary trees?

  Morphological and genetic
• What does it mean if two species share a recent node in an evolutionary tree?

  They are closely related
• Closely related species are grouped together on an evolutionary tree.


  True
• What is the purpose of evolutionary trees?

  Show evolutionary relationships
• What does the root of an evolutionary tree represent?

  Common ancestor
• Nodes on an evolutionary tree indicate points of divergence.


  True
• Match the component of an evolutionary tree with its function:

  Root ↔️ Represents the common ancestor

  Nodes ↔️ Indicate divergence points

  Branches ↔️ Depict evolutionary lineages

  Terminal Nodes ↔️ Represent extant or extinct species
• What types of data are analyzed to construct evolutionary trees?

  Morphological and genetic data
• Morphological data is easy to observe but can be misleading due to convergent
• Genetic data requires specialized equipment and expertise to analyze.


  True
• Evolutionary trees show the evolutionary relationships between different species or groups of organisms.


  True
• Steps in constructing an evolutionary tree

  1️⃣ Data Collection

  2️⃣ Data Comparison

  3️⃣ Tree Construction
• Nodes in an evolutionary tree indicate points of divergence or speciation
• Evolutionary trees help visualize how species are related through common ancestry.


  True
• The root of an evolutionary tree represents the common ancestor
• Nodes in an evolutionary tree represent speciation events
• Closely related species are grouped together on evolutionary trees.

  True
• Evolutionary trees are also known as phylogenetic
• Steps in constructing an evolutionary tree

  1️⃣ Analyze similarities and differences in data

  2️⃣ Group closely related species

  3️⃣ Position distantly related species
• What does the common ancestor at the root of an evolutionary tree indicate?

  The species from which all others descended
• To interpret an evolutionary tree, start by identifying the common ancestor