Real species and ideology

[Curtis Clark]

At 23:58 2004-04-21, Richard Pyle wrote:
>How would you define "stopped" in this case?

I'd rather measure it than define it.

>I agree -- as with species, I see no problem in artificially/arbitrarily
>defining some metric (proportional gene flow?) that stands as a *defined*
>division between what we should call a cline within one evolutionary unit
>(imperfect gene flow), vs. an anomalous exchange of information between two
>separate evolutionary units (hybridization).  Indeed, whatever this
>arbitrary point is, it should also serve as the definition of "species".

This is all counterproductive. It reduces our ability to understand the
process of speciation or the nature of phylogeny.

I see I'm not making myself understood in this discussion, and I've not had
time to keep up with all the posts, so I'll just drop it.


--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona                 +1 909 979 6371
Professor, Biological Sciences                   +1 909 869 4062