Introduction to Phylogenetic Reconstruction

Abstract

Phylogenetics, the study of evolutionary relationships in organisms, is one part of the larger field of systematics, which also includes taxonomy. The term taxonomy connotes the process and methodology for the naming and classification of organisms. The context of evolutionary biology is phylogeny, the connections between all groups of organisms as understood by ancestor/descendant relationships. The molecular mechanisms of organisms studied strongly suggests that all organisms on earth have a common ancestor. Thus, the species are related to each other by the virtue of having evolved from the same common (now extinct) ancestor. Such a relationship of species is called phylogeny and it’s graphical representation is called a phylogenetic tree.