Phylogenetic Tree

<p >A <b>phylogenetic tree</b> or <b>evolutionary tree</b> is a branching diagram or "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_(graph_theory)" title="Tree (graph theory)" >tree</a>" showing the inferred<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution" >evolutionary</a> relationships among various biological<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species" title="Species" >species</a> or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics. The taxa joined together in the tree are implied to have descended from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_descent" title="Common descent" >common ancestor</a>.</p>

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In a <b>rooted</b> phylogenetic tree, each node with descendants represents the inferred <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_recent_common_ancestor" title="Most recent common ancestor" >most recent common ancestor</a> of the descendants, and the edge lengths in some trees may be interpreted as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time" title="Time" >time</a>estimates. Each node is called a taxonomic unit. Internal nodes are generally called hypothetical taxonomic units (HTUs) as they cannot be directly observed. Trees are useful in fields of biology such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioinformatics" title="Bioinformatics" >bioinformatics</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematics" title="Systematics" >systematics</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_phylogenetics" title="Comparative phylogenetics" class="mw-redirect" >comparative phylogenetics</a>.

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<td ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Evolutionary_biology" title="Portal:Evolutionary biology" >Evolutionary biology portal</a></td>

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<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_history_of_life" title="Evolutionary history of life" >Evolutionary history of life</a> - An overview of the major time periods of life on earth</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life" title="Life" >Life</a> - The top level for Wikipedia articles on living species, reflecting a diversity of classification systems.</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-domain_system" title="Three-domain system" >Three-domain system</a> (cell types)</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikispecies" title="Wikispecies" >Wikispecies</a> - An external Wikimedia Foundation project to construct a "tree of life" appropriate for use by scientists</li>

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<h3 >[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phylogenetic_tree&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Fields of study" >edit</a>]Fields of study</h3>

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<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladistics" title="Cladistics" >Cladistics</a></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_phylogenetics" title="Comparative phylogenetics" class="mw-redirect" >Comparative phylogenetics</a></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_phylogenetics" title="Computational phylogenetics" >Computational phylogenetics</a></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_biology" title="Evolutionary biology" >Evolutionary biology</a></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_tree_alignment" title="Generalized tree alignment" >Generalized tree alignment</a></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogenetics" title="Phylogenetics" >Phylogenetics</a></li>

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<h3 >[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phylogenetic_tree&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Software" >edit</a>]Software</h3>

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<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx_(evolutionary_tree_visualization_and_analysis)" title="Archaeopteryx (evolutionary tree visualization and analysis)" >Archaeopteryx</a></li>

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Phylogenetic Tree

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