Phylogenetic Systematics. What is phylogenetic systematics, you ask?
It is the way that biologists reconstruct the pattern of events that have led to the distribution and diversity of life. There is an amazing diversity of life, both living and extinct. For biologists to communicate with each other about these many organisms, there must also be a classification of these organisms into groups. Ideally, the classification should be meaningful, and not arbitrary — it should be based on the evolutionary history of life, such that it predicts properties of newly discovered or poorly known organisms. The Evolution of Flight in Birds. What did T. rex taste like?