Phylogeny, as a biological process, refers to the historical pattern of lineage splitting and character change that generates the evolutionary relationships among organisms or genes over time. It encompasses the processes of speciation, extinction, and divergence of traits driven by mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, recombination, and gene flow, which cumulatively produce branching evolutionary lineages. Phylogenetic processes operate across multiple temporal and spatial scales, shaping hierarchical biodiversity patterns and resulting in genealogical structures that can be inferred from comparative molecular, morphological, or genomic data, forming the basis for reconstructing evolutionary histories and testing macroevolutionary hypotheses.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology today announced the release of a new online tool for studying biodiversity and the evolutionary relationships among birds: the illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer. Available on ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2026
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Gibbons, small apes closely related to humans, face severe threats to their survival. However, their evolutionary history has remained unclear due to their rapid diversification. A new, comprehensive genomic study of gibbons ...
Evolution
Nov 18, 2025
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In the world of phylogenetics, there's team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life—the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly—has stirred fierce debate among phylogeneticists, researchers ...
Evolution
Nov 13, 2025
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When COVID-19 arrived, researchers tried to build evolutionary family trees—known as phylogenetic trees—of the virus. These help scientists understand when new virus strains appear and how they are linked to each other. ...
Evolution
Nov 5, 2025
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Genomes are key to unlocking life's evolutionary history. The presence and absence of certain genetic sequences and mutations can give us clues to the order in which species diverge. However, even state-of-the-art methods ...
Evolution
Nov 5, 2025
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Land plants—such as mosses, ferns and trees—are some of the most structurally complex photosynthesizing organisms on Earth. But their evolutionary story is deeply tied to their ancestors: simpler green algae that lived ...
Evolution
Nov 3, 2025
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Bamboo, palm, and banana trees look and act like trees, but are actually closer to grasses in how they grow because—unlike trees—their stems do not grow wider over time. However, due to their towering structure, scientists ...
Ecology
Oct 24, 2025
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Recent advances in long-read sequencing techniques have produced large amounts of high-quality rRNA marker gene data about eukaryotic organisms, but many of these taxa have remained unknown at the highest taxonomic levels: ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 20, 2025
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Stoneflies (order Plecoptera) rank among the most ancient lineages of winged insects. Beyond their role as key bioindicators for evaluating freshwater ecosystem health, they carry ecological value and evolutionary significance.
Evolution
Oct 13, 2025
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New research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution sheds light on the timelines and pathways of evolution of fungi, finding evidence of their influence on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. The study, led by researchers from ...
Evolution
Oct 1, 2025
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