8.3 Patterns of Evolution

Occurs when a single species evolves into a number of distinct but closely related species Each new species that evolved from the single species fills a different ecological niche, which includes both the physical and environmental conditions it requires This normally happens when a variety of new resources, not being used by other species, become available

large-scale evolution of a group into many different forms

the evolution of similar traits in distantly related species →two different species/ taxa evolve to occupy similar ecological niches For example a cacti and Euphorbia. Cacti is native to America and euphorbia to South africa. They are two different species and from two different places but they both live in extremely dry environments which they adapted to very similarly. They look and act very similar in their environments.

evolutionary success is closely related to another species When species coevolve this could leave the species to be dependent on another, if one species is threatened, the other species can also be threatened most pronounced symbiotic relationship