It is easy to say that species are constantly changing, and branching off into totally new species.

We use fossils to compare and contrast how and organism has evolved over a long period of time and how it has adapted to new changes.

By using DNA sequencing software and using comparative DNA alignment programs, scientists can piece together where the differences and similarities align and the percentage of identical DNA between two species. Another method of classifying these gene-swapping organisms is to alter the method of vertical genomics and shift to a new form of lateral genomics (Koonin et al. 2001). A method using vertical, linear genomics alone will not provide enough resources to clearly assign an organism to a taxonomic group. Also, scientists can look at gene loss over time as a method to group these organisms (Koonin et al. 2001). If scientists would rather stick with similarities to define a taxonomic group, the use of genomic instruments can provide a better picture of which genes are highly conserved between organisms of the same group (Doolittle 1999). Researchers have begun to employ this method as the means for best completing a phylogenetic tree. Using alignments of single copy genes conserved in the genome allows for scientists to achieve that vertical pattern of phylogeny that can be lost when focusing on the amount of transferred genes between groups (Lang et al. 2013).

“The main lesson of biogeography is that only evolution can explain the diversity of life on continents and islands.” (Coyne 109).In convergent evolution 3 of the six components discussed in chapter 1 are working together. These 3 components are common ancestry, speciation, and natural selection. If evolution did exist, ancestors of species today that lived in the same place, when dug up, should be fossils that resemble organisms today.

One reason why branch of taxonomy is important for future scientific knowledge is because science is able to distinguish the difference between species. Being able to do distinguish the difference between

Through the concept of evolution, ecology, population, community and the environment. Species through different periods evolve physiologically and adapting to new environments. Animals who can’t live or survive in certain regions either migrate or die. Common ancestors often link to present day organisms showing biologically and different aspects of adaptations.

6) Explain how a species place in the Linnaeun Classification system can be used to determine its evolutionary relationship to other species? Use the species of the order Pilosa to illustrate your explanation. The classification of species in this order can be found at http://www.eol.org/pages/1660 Go to this website, on the right side click on the link “see all” right of “Classification”, find the IUCN Red List classification and click on “view in classification”.

Part 2) Explain and evaluate the significance of the evidence given to justify this phylogeny. Using the relationship between jaw bone, size, brain and body weight, etc.

A cladogram is a chart that show similarities through a selected species of organism or completely random organisms. They are basically tree like structures to show similar characteristics. Some of these characteristics may be opposable thumbs, hair, cells, or segmented bodies, although all characters can be used. There are many different names for these such charts: phylogeny, evolutionary tree, phylogenetic tree, and cladogram.(reading trees, 2006) In cladograms, there are clades, a clade is a group of species that shares a common ancestor. Each of these organisms share a common trait or traits with this ancestor. While cladograms show certain similarities between species, there is no defined strength of any of the similarities, thus all must be treated with equal meaning. This can lead to awkward situations of species which seem to bare no resemblance to each other being actually correct. This can show great evidence towards evolution only depending upon the organisms used in such a chart.

In the ‘NOVA LABS; The Evolution Lab,’ we found that creating a phylogenetic tree can show how different species are related to each other. A simple body part, like a vertebrate, can put species into a certain group. This means that history can prove that species do change over time because one branch represents a single species that has had a speciation. When a speciation occurs, over time, more branches appear with more species on each, which creates a tree that has more biodiversity. In ‘The Stickleback Fish - A Story of Modern Evolution’ activity, it states, “The Three-Spined Stickleback is a model organism for studies in evolution.” This means actions, such as breeding Stickleback, can help scientists see how the fish and other organisms evolve because the Stickleback fish has such a short life-span, that they can breed and get results, fast. In brief, history can prove that species do change over time because breeding can show how the Stickleback population has occurred and how different traits can be expressed in the future generations. In the ‘Comparative Anatomy’ activity, we found that when looking at two different species, you can see how they are related because both species can possess similar traits and forms. When comparing different species, you can see how different and similar two species’ bodily structures are. When looking at the bodily structures, you could see how the species has evolved over time and how some body parts stay the same. In short, history can prove that species do change over time because creating phylogenetic trees, breeding species, and comparing body parts can help scientist see who the species evolved from and how these species can continue to

Subclass – Archeorinthes –*Fossil birds (Jurassic birds of Mesozoic Age). *Flight feathers present. *Long tail without a pygostyle. *Carpals and metacarpals free. *Abdominal ribs present. *Hand reduced to three digits.

Although only about half of the Lucilia species listed as valid by Aubertin (1933) were included, these results strongly suggest that L. sericata and L. cuprina are indeed sister species. All of the Bayesian inference analyses (Figs 1–3) indicate that L. sericata and L. cuprina are sister taxa with strong support from the nuclear gene (28S & Per) and total data (28S, Per & COI) trees and weaker support from the COI gene alone. Lucilia cuprina is paraphyletic (Fig. 2) with respect to L. sericata in the mitochondrial gene (COI) tree, as has been shown previously (using the same sequences but weaker auxiliary taxon sampling) to be the result of introgressive hybridisation between these two species (Williams & Villet, 2013). In another study, the nuclear gene elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1α) did not recover L. sericata and L. cuprina as sister-species (McDonagh & Stevens, 2011), but the clade containing L. sericata was poorly resolved and thus the conclusion was not well supported. In the same study, the 28S and COI gene trees both recovered L. sericata and L. cuprina as sister species with strong support (McDonagh & Stevens, 2011).

The Bunostegos have knobbly growths on their skull and are the largest recognizable reptiles ever seen in the Pareiasaur group, which are plant eating creatures. The Bunostegos traveled a remote desert approximately 260 million years ago. The unusual reptile belongs to the Pareiasaur group, they thrived during the Permian period. The cow sized creature has been named Bunostegos, which means “Knobby roof”. Researchers supports the idea that there was a remote desert in the middle of Pangea with unusual animals. It is possible that the bony knobs on the skull of Pareiasaurs did not serve as a protective function, but were purely ornamental. The knobbly growths remarkably vary in size and shape between different species. The long period of isolation

Disregarding the feathers of Longisquama, and therefore disregarding its link to Archaeopteryx, these scientists still fully support the dinosaur-bird link. As mentioned before, the extreme majority of paleontologists still subscribe to this idea. A recent discovery in the western region of China seems to clarify the link between dinosaurs and birds. Living at roughly the same time as Archaeopteryx, Sinovenator changii is very closely related to the bird yet is classified as a dinosaur.5

Biologist call them cryptic species. Animals can look the same but be completely different on the inside. Example is An orangutan , and a monkey, they look the same and are similar but two different animals.The exact definition for a “cryptic species” states that it is an individual that is morphologically identical to each other but belong to a different species. Another way the different species are determined are through bone structure. Anatomy is the study of the structure of organisms. Anatomists look at how an animal's bones,muscles, and organs are shaped and fit together. Biologist compare anatomies of different species to figure out how closely related they are. The more similar a pair of organisms are, the more likely it is that they shared a recent common ancestor from which since they were alive, they have both evolved. This is how the first theory of evolution came about because animals looked to be the same but had different bone structure. Animals change and adapt to their surroundings therefore that's why there are so many different

Starting over 500 years ago with Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton paving the way for the possibility of new scientific exploration into studies such as “stratigraphy, the study of the rock and soil layers of the earth” by Robert Hooke and Carolus Linnaeus’ study of taxonomy, “the system of naming and classifying organisms” based on morphological similarities and differences, humanity would begin to uncrack the code of where life came from in a nonbiblical sense. (Fuentes, 26) Further studies by George-Louis Leclerc – Comte du Buffon, Erasmus Darwin (Charles’ grandfather), Georges Cuvier, James Hutton and Charles Lyell as well as Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet – Chevalier de Lamarck’s studies in which he “correctly identified the environment as a challenge to organisms and adaptation as the result of changing to meet environmental challenges” helped prompt the formulation of the current understanding of evolution by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace each in their own special way.