Concept
Version 9
Created by Boundless
Web, Network, and Ring of Life Models
Phylogenetic web of life model
In the (a) phylogenetic model proposed by W. Ford Doolittle, the "tree of life" arose from a community of ancestral cells, has multiple trunks, and has connections between branches where horizontal gene transfer has occurred. Visually, this concept is better represented by (b) the multi-trunked Ficus than by the single trunk of the oak, similar to the tree drawn by Darwin.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"OpenStax College, Perspectives on the Phylogenetic Tree. October 16, 2013."
http://cnx.org/content/m44593/latest/Figure_20_03_05.jpg
OpenStax CNX
CC BY 3.0.