Biology Site
	Catherine Ebey BellaOnline's Biology Editor

History of Phylogenetic Trees
Who came up with the first phylogenetic tree? Tree of Life diagrams have been around much longer than anyone suspected for being such a new, unique way of classifying organisms. Explore the history of phylogenetics and the biological tree of life.

How Life Began
Learn about the beginning of our planet earth and how life first formed in that tumultous environment.

Identifying a Monophyletic Group
Monophyletic groups share traits in common with one another. These groups share the same common ancestor. Scientists use monophyletic groups to classify organisms based on their shared heritable traits. Trace an organism's place in evolution using a life tree.

Living Fossils - What Are Living Fossils?
The term "living fossil" was first used by Charles Darwin in his book "On the Origin of Species." But what exactly is a "living fossil"?

Lucy - One of the Oldest Human Ancestors
Who were our human ancestors? Meet one of the oldest: Lucy. Lucy was a member of a species of hominids that made up some of our oldest human ancestors. Lucy's skeleton is the most complete ancestral skeletal ever to be found and the only one to be named after a Beatles song.

Natural Selection - A Mechanism of Evolution
Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution. How much do you know about natural selection?

Phylogenetics and the Biological Tree of Life
Classic taxonomy has been joined by a new method: phylogenetics. Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history of living organisms and how each organism is related to each other through common ancestry. Using phylogenetics, biologists may construct the biological tree of life.