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Phylogenetic trees

Usually a sketch of a tree-like structure is used to describe evolution; the evolutionary tree represents the hierarchical relationships among species arising through evolution. Ancestors' species are located near the root of the tree and contemporary species are the leaves. Almost all methods accept the appropriateness of a tree-like model to describe the evolution of species but one must keep in mind that it is a strong assumption in itself.



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Gowri-Shankar Vivek 2003-04-24