Nature's underlying relationships
and how you fit in
Today, in our increasingly connected world, it's more obvious than ever that relationships and networks are essential, but as the Tree of Life shows, this is no new phenomenon. The tree displays the evolutionary connections between 191 samples from the three super-kingdoms, or domains, of biology: Bacteria, Archaea and the complex Eukarya (including plants, fungi and animals).
Though many appear similar to bacteria, these single-celled, microscopic organisms share closer evolutionary histories with eukarya. Many inhabit some of Earth's most extreme conditions.
This domain contains our species, Homo sapiens. Directly linked to us are Pan troglodytes, or chimpanzees.
There are around five nonillion (5x1030) bacteria on Earth – their mass greater that of all plants and animals combined.
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Though many appear similar to bacteria, these single-celled, microscopic organisms share closer evolutionary histories with eukarya. Many inhabit some of Earth's most extreme conditions.
This domain contains our species, Homo sapiens. Directly linked to us are Pan troglodytes, or chimpanzees.
There are around five nonillion (5x1030) bacteria on Earth – their mass greater that of all plants and animals combined.
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ILLUSTRATION: THE LUXURY OF PROTEST; TREE OF LIFE used with thanks to letunic and bork, ITOL.EMBL.DE/ITOL.CGI CREDIT:
LETUNIC AND BORK (2006) BIOINFORMATICS 23(1):127-8 AND LETUNIC AND BORK (2011) NUCLEIC ACIDS RES DOI:
10.1093/NAR/GKR201