Tree Trees, or Phylogenetics of Forests

An article in this week's Aiken Standard highlighted a new study that reshapes classification of relationships between and among flora across the world. Prior to the publication of the study, classification depended on counting species and determining similarity based on percent in common. Using phylogenetics, however, the authors are able to identify five major regions and their relationships. 

"Prior to the team’s study, the established hypothesis was that the Neotropics – including Central and South America – were different from the Paleotropics of Africa, Asia and Australia.

'But when we make these phylogenetic trees for each forest, we actually find that American forests and west African forests are more closely related to each other than they are to the Indo-Pacific,' DeWalt said."

This has implications for understanding how species in a given region may adapt to climate change, but could also give clues about the environments that early human and human ancestors survived in.


Here is the actual study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

--Courtney