Convergence, Natural Selection, 'Survival of the Fittest'

 Convergence, Natural Selection, 'Survival of the Fittest'

Convergent evolution is the evolutionary relationship that occurs when organisms that are not closely related evolve similar traits or behaviors. Whereas, divergent evolution is the opposite of convergent evolution and occurs when two organisms share a common ancestor and evolve one or more traits and behaviors that make them different from each other.

I have chosen the following example from "Improbable Destinies" to illustrate convergent evolution: different caffeine-producing plants. Using DNA comparisons, the author of this book built an evolutionary tree illustrating how coffee, tea, and cacao all occur on different branches of the phylogenetic tree. They are not closely related to one another. Coffee, tea, and cacao all convergently evolved due to them not being closely related based on genetic research but evolved similar traits or behaviors (in this case, caffeine production) as seen in the figure below:

Thanks for reading!

Comments

  1. AnnahSeptember 15, 2024 at 12:21 PM

    You did a great job of explaining convergent evolution and how it differs from divergent evolution. The example you chose of caffeine producing plants depicted the concept very well!

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