Using Pipe Cleaners to Bring the Tree of Life to Life

ABSTRACT Phylogenetic trees, such as the “Tree of Life,” are commonly found in biology textbooks and are often used in teaching. Because students often struggle to understand these diagrams, I developed a simple, inexpensive classroom model. Made of pipe cleaners, it is easily manipulated to rotate branches, compare topologies, map complete lineages, identify informative phylogenetic features, and examine the effects of superficial structural changes.