Table of Contents
- 1 How can you tell if species share a common ancestor?
- 2 Why do some species of organisms that look similar are not closely related taxonomically?
- 3 How do you tell which species are most closely related?
- 4 Which two species are most closely related how do you know?
- 5 What do plants and algae have in common?
- 6 How will you call two organisms that come from one common recent ancestor?
- 7 How do you tell if two species are related?
To find the most recent common ancestor of a set of taxa on a phylogenetic tree, follow each taxon’s lineage back in time (towards the base of the tree) until all the lineages meet up. That node represents their most recent common ancestor.
Organisms may be very closely related, even though they look quite different, due to a minor genetic change that caused a major morphological difference. Unrelated organisms may appear very similar because both organisms developed common adaptations that evolved within similar environmental conditions.
Do plants and algae have a common ancestor?
All green algae (Chlorophyta) and plants share a common evolutionary ancestor. They both contain the photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. The two lineages diverged between 630 million and 510 million years ago.
Two species are more related if they have a more recent common ancestor, and less related if they have a less recent common ancestor.
Which species are more related? In a phylogenetic tree, the relatedness of two species has a very specific meaning. Two species are more related if they have a more recent common ancestor, and less related if they have a less recent common ancestor.
What group of algae is closely related to plants?
charophyte green algae
The charophyte green algae (CGA) are considered the closest living relatives of the land plants.
What do plants and algae have in common?
Plants and algae are both photosynthetic. Both are also considered eukaryotes, consisting of cells with specialized components. They both also have the same life cycle called alternation of generations.
How will you call two organisms that come from one common recent ancestor?
Common descent is an effect of speciation, in which multiple species derive from a single ancestral population. The most recent common ancestor of all currently living organisms is the last universal ancestor, which lived about 3.9 billion years ago.
What does it mean to say that species evolved?
Evolution is the process by which species adapt over time in response to their changing environment.