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.
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 hundreds ...
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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Artificial intelligence is now better than humans at identifying many patterns, but evolutionary relationships have always been difficult for the technology to decipher. A team from the Bioinformatics Department at Ruhr University ...
Evolution
Sep 10, 2025
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Researchers have described a large set of previously unrecognized enzymatic domains—named the Lipocone superfamily—and outlined their evolutionary pathway from bacterial defense molecules to key players in human development.
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 9, 2025
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20
New genetic techniques are shedding light on a mysterious part of our family tree—ancient human relatives called the Denisovans that emerged during the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 370,000 years ago.
This month, George Tiley began his NC State appointment as an assistant professor of plant and microbial biology. Right before his Aug. 1 start date, Tiley and colleagues published a Perspectives piece in the Proceedings ...
Evolution
Aug 25, 2025
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18
The British evolutionary biologist JBS Haldane is said to have quipped that any divine being evidently had "an ordinate fondness for beetles." This "bon mot" conveyed an important truth: the "tree of life"—the family tree ...
Evolution
Aug 20, 2025
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