Question

Mention some of the tools for tracing evolutionary relationships among species.

Answer 1

Evolutionary relationship between two different organisms means the similar characteristics which gives us an idea about the common ancestors. It is useful in establishing the phylogeny tree.

Complete Answer:
- Evolution is the change in the genetic characteristics of the organisms over several generations. These characters are passed from parents to off-springs from generation to generation. The theory of evolution is based on natural selection. It created huge biodiversity.
- Evolutionary relations can be based on the characteristics like structural similarities, breeding behaviour, geographical distribution, biochemistry etc.
- There are certain tools which are helpful to find out evolutionary relationships. They are
Homologous organ helps in knowing the previous ancestor which has evolved with different functions.
Example- Wings of birds and arms of humans.
- Fossils: Fossils are the dead remains of the organism in the form of casts, impressions or, mould. The fossils give us physical evidence of ancestral life. It is very much useful in determining evolution. It gives us the information regarding the anatomy, geographical locations. This is studied by the palaeontologists by comparing the similarities found in the fossils to that of the modern organism.
- By studying the genetic structure of the organism by the help of computer aided software tools. This branch of biotechnology is known as bioinformatics.

Note: Fossils tell us that most of the organisms found in the ancient days are not present today. But these anatomical similarities help us in understanding the relationship and ancestry. New software tools used in bioinformatics compare the gene sequences. Based on this it can tell the relationship at the genetic level.