C4 carbon fixation
Videos
C4 carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960s discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charl
Cross section of a maize leaf, a C4 plant. Kranz anatomy (rings of cells) shown
Starr 010324 9001 Ehrharta erecta
Convergent evolution
Videos
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were no
C4 carbon fixation
…arid environments. C4 carbon fixation has evolved in at least 62 independent occasions in 19 different families of plants, making it a prime example of convergent evolution. This convergence may have been facilitated by the fact that many potential evolutionary pathways to a C4 phenotype exist, many of which involve initial…
Red fox skeleton
Skulls of thylacine (left), timber wolf (right)
A mormyrid electric fish of Africa
Vertebrate wings are partly homologous (from forelimbs), but analogous as organs of flight in (1) pterosaurs, (2) bats, (3) birds, evolved separately.