Chapter 26 ? Phylogeny and the Tree of Life Overview: Investigating the Tree of Life Process of evolution ? the evolutionary mechanisms (from Unit 4) Pattern of Evolution ? observations of evolution?s products over time. (focus of this chapter) Phylogeny ? The evolutionary history of a species or group of species. Systematics - A discipline focues on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships. Systematics uses data from fossils to molecules and genes to infer evolutionary relationships. (figure 26.2) 26.1 Phylogenies show evolutionary relationships Taxonomy ? the scientific discipline of how organisms are named and classified. A. Binomial Nomeclature (Instituted by Linnaeus) Binomial: The two part format of the scientific name