Give an example of characteristics being used to determine how close two species are in evolutionary terms.
Answer:
Presence of similar characteristics in organisms can be used to determine if the particular species have common ancestors and are related on evolutionary grounds.
For Example -
In case of Homologous characteristics :
- Basic structure of the limbs of frogs, lizards, birds and humans is the same .
- But, their functions are different .
- This means they evolved differently from a common ancestor due to different usage of limbs. This is known as Divergent Evolution .
In case of Analogous Characteristics :
- Both birds and bats have wings.
- Structure of bat wings is skin stretched over elongated fingers
- In birds , the arms (wings) are covered in feathers .
- Their origin and structure are different but function is the same ; they help to fly, so they are examples of Convergent Evolution .
- They are also called Analogous Characteristics .
These characteristics can hence be used to determine how close two species are in evolutionary terms.
