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Infinite descent, a method going back to Fermat to solve Diophantine equations; Descent (mathematics), an idea extending the notion of "gluing" in topology Hadamard's method of descent, a technique for solving partial differential equations
Also known as descent with modification. Over time these evolutionary processes lead to formation of new species ( speciation ), changes within lineages ( anagenesis ), and loss of species ( extinction ).
Evolutionary taxonomy, evolutionary systematics or Darwinian classification is a branch of biological classification that seeks to classify organisms using a combination of phylogenetic relationship (shared descent), progenitor-descendant relationship (serial descent), and degree of evolutionary change.
Also called functionalism. The Darwinian view that many or most physiological and behavioral traits of organisms are adaptations that have evolved for specific functions or for specific reasons (as opposed to being byproducts of the evolution of other traits, consequences of biological constraints, or the result of random variation). adaptive radiation The simultaneous or near-simultaneous ...
A lineage is a single line of descent or linear chain within the tree, while a clade is a (usually branched) monophyletic group, containing a single ancestor and all its descendants. [3] Phylogenetic trees are typically created from DNA, RNA or protein sequence data. Apart from this, morphological differences and similarities have been, and ...
Reticulate evolution refers to evolutionary processes which cannot be successfully represented using a classical phylogenetic tree model, [25] as it gives rise to rapid evolutionary change with horizontal crossings and mergings often preceding a pattern of vertical descent with modification. [26]
The nature of this point or stage of divergence remains a topic of research. All earlier forms of life preceding this divergence and all extant organisms are generally thought to share common ancestry. On the basis of a formal statistical test, this theory of a universal common ancestry (UCA) is supported versus competing multiple-ancestry ...
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of its geological history. [1]