University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

From people to plants, from blue whales to bacteria, every living thing on Earth is related to all the others through evolution. The DNA in every cell preserves a record of these relationships -- called "the tree of life" -- as well as clues as to when the various branches split off.

From late July through late October, the U-M Museum of Natural History will present the exhibit Scientists Trace the Tree of Life in the Museum’s rotunda. Through large graphic panels and specimens from the university’s collections, the exhibit will explore the relationship between genetics and evolution. It will feature the work of several U-M researchers in ecology and evolutionary biology, including Professor Lacey Knowles, curator in the U-M Museum of Zoology. Knowles studies the processes that contribute to the evolution of new species, and how these combine to create the diversity of life we see today. The work of Professor Tim James, assistant curator of fungi in the Museum of Zoology, Professor Stephen Smith, and Hayley Lanier, postdoctoral fellow working with Knowles, is included in the display.

Come and learn about your family tree -- it’s bigger than you thought!

Image credit: David Hillis, Jim Bulls, Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas. Caption: A simplified tree of life.