[Taxacom] Seed plants of Fiji

[Thomas G. Lammers]

Hm.  Sounds to me as though someone has come to a conclusion first and 
subsequently cast about for data.  We do tend to find what we look for ...

So do really believe that vicariance is a one-size-fits-all explanation for 
all biogeographic explanations?  I am always suspicious of simplistic 
explanations.  I am a lot more comfortable with admissions that situations 
are complex, and there are different mechanisms operating in different 
situations.  I guess that's the difference between reductionism and an 
emphasis on diversity.

I don't know much about Fiji, but I would dearly love to see this sort of 
viewpoint applied to the Hawaiian archipelago.  I think actual data would 
lean a lot closer to Guppy, Carlquist, MacArthur & Wilson, etc. than to any 
sort of vicariance.

At 11:30 AM 11/15/2006, John Grehan wrote:
>Some recent molecular dispersalist papers have asserted words to the
>effect that even if vicariance rule the continents, casual dispersal
>still rule the waves (sorry about the really bad allusion to Rule
>Britannia) when it comes to 'oceanic islands'. Of course such assertions
>are only sustainable by ignoring the extensive vicariism present in
>oceanic settings, and it will be all the harder in light of what Heads
>brings to light in his latest account on the "Seed Plants of Fiji: An
>ecological analysis". Theorists have talked about the false dichotomy
>between ecology and history, but here it is put into practice. This
>article may be accessed at:
>http://www.sciencebuff.org/heads_publications.php
>
>
>
>Some may find his conclusion that the "Flora of Fiji and the Pacific in
>general has not been derived from immigrants from Asia or Australia, but
>has evolved more or less in situ" to be challenging, but the challenge
>lies in the empirical evidence of biogeography. He notes that "Taxa have
>survived as metapopulations on the ephemeral volcanic islands which
>characterize oceanic subduction zones, hot spots, and crack spots
>[please refrain from the obvious allusion], and on the atolls which
>characterize areas of subsidence. Thus, a widespread central pacific
>species pool, including regional and local endemics and their ancestors,
>has survived and evolved in the region for tens of millions of years,
>and probably existed there even before the formation of the Pacific
>basin".
>
>
>
>On ecology he ends with the observation that "Whether or not geological
>history has been important in every case, it seems unrealistic to
>discuss altitudinal anomalies and the altitudinal range of communities
>and taxa in general without reference to the geological changes of
>altitude caused by uplift, subsidence, and erosion.
>
>
>
>If nothing else the meta-population theorist should be happy to see
>their ecological perspective given such a key role in the evolution of
>global biota.
>
>
>
>John Grehan
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr. John R. Grehan
>
>Director of Science and Collections
>
>Buffalo Museum of Science1020 Humboldt Parkway
>
>Buffalo, NY 14211-1193
>
>email: jgrehan at sciencebuff.org
>
>Phone: (716) 896-5200 ext 372
>
>
>
>Panbiogeography
>
>http://www.sciencebuff.org/biogeography_and_evolutionary_biology.php
>
>Ghost moth research
>
>http://www.sciencebuff.org/systematics_and_evolution_of_hepialdiae.php
>
>Human evolution and the great apes
>
>http://www.sciencebuff.org/human_origin_and_the_great_apes.php
>
>
>
>
>
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Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and 
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
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