[Taxacom] Evolutionary misconceptions (mother-daughter pairs)

[Richard Zander]

Interesting study by Pagel. I think there is evidence for both gradual change leading to new species and for fixation of particular combinations of traits as particular environments open. The latter is as Pagel found, pretty much chance determined. 
 
I think one needs to carefully figure out what the statistics really means. Statistics is a powerful tool, but full of gotch'ers. Does the finding of a non-bell-shaped curve mean that speciation is not chance-driven? Or is there another dimension not examined, such as time and associated exinction events, that affect the curve? 
 
 
 
_______________________
Richard H. Zander
Missouri Botanical Garden
PO Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166 U.S.A.
richard.zander at mobot.org
 

________________________________

From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu on behalf of Jim Croft
Sent: Fri 3/12/2010 7:18 PM
To: Richard Pyle
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Evolutionary misconceptions (mother-daughter pairs)



Way to get around 'Taxacom Rule Number 1' (*), mate... :)

But everyone seems to be hopping on this topic - not only the highbrow
erudite broadsheet of Taxacom, but now even the tabloids are pumping
it out:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527511.400-accidental-origins-where-species-come-from.html

jim


(*) Taxacom Rule Number 1 - "Taxacom subscribers are not permitted to
post the question: 'What is a species?'"


On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 7:18 AM, Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org> wrote:
> Maybe I completely misunderstand what you mean when you say "an ancestral
> species totally transforming into a descendant species without
> lineage-splitting ... never happens".  But by my reckoning, *every* species
> is the product of a sequence of reproductive events in which an ancestral
> species transforms into a descendant species -- whether or not any of the
> siblings or cousins happened to persist long enough to exist today or be
> represented in the fossil record.

--
_________________
Jim Croft ~ jim.croft at gmail.com ~ +61-2-62509499 ~
http://www.google.com/profiles/jim.croft
'A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point
of doubtful sanity.'
 - Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)

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