How Do You Build A Phylogenetic Tree?
Phylogeny is the area of science devoted to mapping out how organisms are related to one another. In a certain sense, it is about showing how organisms evolved from one cell into the diverse organisms that inhabit the planet now. Constructing an accurate phylogenetic tree can provide a visual representation that allows you to see how related a pig and an oak tree actually are when compared to other organisms. Determine what level of taxonomy your phylogenetic tree will represent. There are six kingdoms, 35 to 40 phyla and increasingly more as you go to class, order, family, genus and species. Start with the progenitor cell that is fabled to have given rise to all other cells in existence. Draw a line outward, and branch off to represent archaea becoming bacteria. Draw a bit further and have bacteria and protists branch from one another. Try and make the length of the branches represent a time span in millions of years. Continue branching until you have represented all of the kingdoms.
