Phylogenetics
In biology,
phylogenetics /faɪlɵdʒɪˈnɛtɪks/ is the study of evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms, which are discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices. The term
phylogenetics derives from the Greek terms
phylé and
phylon, denoting "tribe", "clan", "race" and the adjectival form,
genetikós, of the word
genesis "origin", "source", "birth". The result of phylogenetic studies is a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of taxonomic groups: their
phylogeny. Evolution is a process whereby populations are altered over time and may split into separate branches, hybridize together, or terminate by extinction. The evolutionary branching process may be depicted as a phylogenetic tree, and the place of each of the various organisms on the tree is based on a hypothesis about the sequence in which evolutionary branching events occurred. In historical linguistics, similar concepts are used with respect to relationships between languages; and in textual criticism with stemmatics. Phylogenetic analyses have become essential to research on the evolutionary tree of life.