The tree of evolution: What about its best growth form?

[Tom DiBenedetto]

 Thomas Schlemmermeyer wrote:

>My mind was astonished by seeing the cover photo of the second edition of
>"Molecular Systematics" by Hillis and Moritz, Sinauer, 1996.

just wait till you look inside!!  :)

>There, a tree of evolution was given. The terminal taxa (some in the english
>realm say taxons)

(only dummies)

> were arranged in a circular order around the root
>which branched by starting from the middle.
>I have already seen other trees which had their roots on the top and were
>growing towards the bottom!
>Very elegant, seemingly still not out of vogue, are classical trees of
>evolution which grow from the bottom to the top.
>Are there any further aspects involved beside the sense of beauty???

no.
lets keep aesthetics in science!
I prefer my trees sideways (root to the left) so that the terminals
can
be read easily.



Tom DiBenedetto                 http://www-personal.umich.edu/~tdib/
Fish Division                                   tdib at umich.edu
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology