Evolutionary Changes

​Organs and structures that are shared between related organisms but may not serve the same purpose.

​​Homologous

​Organs, structures or processes that still exist but not needed for survival. They are ties to our earlier development.

​​Vestigial

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​Convergent evolution occurs when species occupy similar ecological niches and adapt in similar ways in response to similar selective pressures

​​Convergent Evolution

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​Last Universal Common Ancestor

This is where we trace our original genetic information of DNA to. ​Every organism on Earth shares LUCA as an ancestor.

​​LUCA

Features of different species that are similar in function but not necessarily in structure. These structures are the evidence of Convergent Evolution.​

​Organisms that are unrelated to each other share structures that serve the same purpose but are very different.

​In the picture we see that Birds, Butterflies and Bats all have different wings. While they all have DNA and can be traced back to LUCA they are very different organisms.

​Wings are needed to fly, different types of organisms developed them independently of each other, the same happens with animals that live in the sea.

​When scuba divers head to the ocean they wear flippers to increase the ability to move. Which makes sense that organisms that live in sea would develop similar structures.

​Legs in different types of animals are other examples of this.