[Taxacom] Nothofagus flying to NZ

[John Grehan]

I would be interested to know what Ken Kinman defines as a "good case"
made by Knapp et al 2005. As far as I can see they take fossils that
only represent minimal divergence dates and magically (I use this word
because I am unaware of any scientific process involved) turn them into
absolute or maximal divergence dates when mapped onto a theoretical
molecular clock.

John Grehan 

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Ken Kinman
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 11:07 PM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Two primitive mammals in one week


     The paper by Knapp et al., 2005, makes a very good case that
long-distance dispersal of Nothofagus has occurred over the Tasman Sea.

Nothofagus apparently doesn't like sea-water, but why has dispersal by
migrating birds been rejected as a mechanism in the past?  Even if
Nothofagus nuts are not eaten by birds today, perhaps they were eaten by
some migrating species of bird which is now extinct.
   ---Ken Kinman
**********************************
Geoff Read wrote:
>This is way out of my expertise zone, but I'm going to read Knapp et al
>(2005) to get their POV.
>
>Knapp, M., Stockler, K., Havell, D., Delsuc, F., Sebastiani, F. & 
>Lockhart, P.J. (2005) Relaxed molecular clock provides evidence for 
>long-distance dispersal of Nothofagus (southern beech). PLoS Biology, 
>3, 38-43.
>
>doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030014
>
>http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-toc&issn=1545-788
>5&volume=3&issue=1
>
>Geoff
>--

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