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Cladogenesis
 
 
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Cladogenesis is an evolutionary splitting event in which each branch and its smaller branches forms a "clade
Cladistics

Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of species based on evolutionary ancestry. Cladistics is distinguished from other taxonomic systems because it focuses on evolution rather than similarities between species, and because it places heavy emphasis on objective, quantitative analysis....
", an evolutionary mechanism and a process of adaptive evolution that leads to the development of a greater variety of sister organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s. This event usually occurs when a few organisms end up in new, often distant areas or when environmental changes cause several extinctions, opening up ecological niches for the survivors.






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Cladogenesis is an evolutionary splitting event in which each branch and its smaller branches forms a "clade
Cladistics

Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of species based on evolutionary ancestry. Cladistics is distinguished from other taxonomic systems because it focuses on evolution rather than similarities between species, and because it places heavy emphasis on objective, quantitative analysis....
", an evolutionary mechanism and a process of adaptive evolution that leads to the development of a greater variety of sister organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s. This event usually occurs when a few organisms end up in new, often distant areas or when environmental changes cause several extinctions, opening up ecological niches for the survivors. A great example of cladogenesis today is the Hawaiian archipelago
Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll....
, to which stray organisms traveled across the ocean via ocean currents and winds. Most of the species on the islands are not found anywhere else on Earth due to evolutionary divergence.

Cladogenesis is often contrasted with anagenesis
Anagenesis

Anagenesis, also known as "phyletic change", is the evolution of species involving a change in gene frequency in an entire population rather than a branching event, as in cladogenesis....
, where gradual changes in an ancestral species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 lead to its eventual "replacement" by a novel form (i.e., there is no "splitting" of the phylogenetic tree
Phylogenetic tree

A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities that are believed to have a common descent....
).

See also

  • Evolutionary biology
    Evolutionary biology

    Evolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin of species from a common descent and descent of species, as well as their evolution, multiplication and diversity over time....