What does Darwins tree-of-life predict (in terms of organisms and phyla) ?
Darwin’s tree-of-life predicts that there should be a few primitive organisms which gradually branch out into many other organisms. At the base of the tree we should have few simple organisms which fall within one phylum. After millions of years, the number of organisms should gradually increase, and branch into two phyla. And after more millions of years, those phyla should branch into 4 phyla, and after millions of years, those phyla should branch into 8 phyla etc. So, with time, the pattern that Darwin’s tree-of-life predicts is the following: 1 phylum + millions of years –> 2 phyla. 2 phyla + millions of years –> 4 phyla. 4 phyla + millions of years –> 8 phyla. 8 phyla + millions of years –> 16 phyla. 16 phyla + millions of years –> 32 phyla. 32 phyla + millions of years –> 64 phyla. 64 phyla + millions of years –> 80+ phyla. How would this look graphically? In the figure below, “1” denotes a phylum. “…” denotes millions of years. Graphical representation (of numbers of ph
