S ince Darwin's time, biological classification has come to be understood as reflecting evolutionary distances and relationships between organisms. The creatures of our time have had common ancestors in the past. In a very real sense, they are members of the same family tree. T he great diversity of life is largely a result of branching evolution or adaptive radiation . This is the diversification of a species as it adapts to different ecological niches and ultimately evolves into different species.
Natural selection is the principle mechanism driving adaptive radiation.
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