[Taxacom] RES: south-west Australia

[John Grehan]

My point is that "null hypotheses" are no more or less useful or
insightful than the methodology and assumptions that are built into the
analysis in the first place. One can have all the null hypotheses in the
world and yet have none that are realistic if one is blind to relevant
information (such as biogeographic patterns in biogeography).

John Grehan

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Curtis Clark
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 10:35 AM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] RES: south-west Australia

On 6/22/2011 5:09 AM, John Grehan wrote:
> This discussion exemplifies what panbiogeography is all about. In my
opinion, panbiogeography is not focused on hashing over theories and
definitions about vicariance and dispersal based on some theoretical
proposition or 'null hypothesis (as in Darwinian center of
origin/dispersalist biogeography), but begins with a serious look at the
facts of biogeography as represented by looking at how phylogenetic
relationships and boundaries are geographically located and spatially
related to each other.
Every science uses null hypotheses. All biogeographers use the null 
hypothesis "everything lives everywhere". If panbiogeographers haven't 
refined the null hypotheses beyond that, more's the shame, but I suspect

they have. Otherwise, they are comparing their data with nothing.

-- 
--
Curtis Clark
Cal Poly Pomona


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