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Convergent and Divergent Evolution
Concepts tested here
- Analogy and convergent evolution
All Questions
2007 AIPMT-PRE 1 question
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When two species of different genealogy come to resemble each other as a result of adaptation, the phenomenon is termedWhen unrelated organisms, i.e. species of different ancestry (genealogy), live in similar habitats, they face the same environmental demands.
They develop similar adaptive features and so come to resemble each other. This is called convergent evolution.
It gives rise to analogous structures, which have different origins but perform similar functions, such as the wings of a butterfly and of a bird, the eyes of the octopus and of mammals, and the flippers of penguins and dolphins.
Divergent evolution is the opposite: related organisms become different as they adapt to different needs, giving homologous structures.
Co-evolution is the evolution of two species in response to each other, and microevolution is a small change in gene frequencies within a population.
So the phenomenon is convergent evolution.