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cladogenesis

 
Dictionary: clad·o·gen·e·sis   (klăd'ə-jĕn'ĭ-sĭs) pronunciation
n.
The evolutionary change and diversification resulting from the branching off of new taxa from common ancestral lineages.

[Greek klados, branch + -GENESIS.]

cladogenetic clad'o·ge·net'ic (-jə-nĕt'ĭk) adj.
cladogenetically clad'o·ge·net'i·cal·ly adv.

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Wordsmith Words: cladogenesis
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(klad-uh-JEN-i-sis)

noun
The evolutionary change and diversification resulting from the branching off of new species from common ancestral lineages.

Etymology
Greek klados, branch + -genesis.

Usage
"If the branching pattern of a species tree reflects the evolutionary relationships among its tips, then this pattern offers clues to the process of cladogenesis and lineage diversification." — Arne Oyvind Mooers, Tree balance and tree completeness, Evolution, Apr 1995.


Biology Q&A: What is cladogenesis?
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Cladogenesis is the formation of a group of species that share a common ancestor. Cladogenesis can occur as a result of adaptive radiation, which is the divergence or splitting of one species into several.

Previous question: What is adaptive radiation?
Next question: What is anagenesis?


Wikipedia: Cladogenesis
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Cladogenesis is an evolutionary splitting event in which each branch and its smaller branches forms a "clade", an evolutionary mechanism and a process of adaptive evolution that leads to the development of a greater variety of sister organisms. This event usually occurs when a few organisms end up in new, often distant areas or when environmental changes cause several extinctions, opening up ecological niches for the survivors. A great example of cladogenesis today is the Hawaiian archipelago, to which stray organisms traveled across the ocean via ocean currents and winds. Most of the species on the islands are not found anywhere else on Earth due to evolutionary divergence.

Cladogenesis is often contrasted with anagenesis, where gradual changes in an ancestral species lead to its eventual "replacement" by a novel form (i.e., there is no "splitting" of the phylogenetic tree).

See also

References

  • Korotayev, Andrey (2004). World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective (First Edition ed.). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-6310-0.  (on the applicability of this notion to the study of social evolution).




 
 
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Classification, biological (zoology)
Organic evolution (evolution)
Anagenesis

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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