The study of the evolutionary relationships among organisms is called phylogenetics.

Quick Scoop

  • Phylogenetics focuses on how species are related through common ancestors and how they diverged over time.
  • It uses evidence such as DNA and protein sequences, body structures, fossils, and other traits to build “family trees” of life, known as phylogenetic trees.
  • These trees are hypotheses about evolutionary history that show which organisms share more recent common ancestors and which lineages split long ago.
  • Phylogenetics is a core part of biological systematics , the broader field that includes classifying, naming, and grouping organisms based on their evolutionary history.

In everyday terms, phylogenetics is like reconstructing an enormous, branching family tree for all living things to see who is related to whom, and how life has changed over deep time.