[Taxacom] Hedges /Kumar (eds) The Timetree of Life

[Robin Leech]

I believe you are juggling my comments.
Robin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Pyle" <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
To: "'Robin Leech'" <releech at telus.net>; "'Dick Jensen'" 
<rjensen at saintmarys.edu>
Cc: "'Taxacom'" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 8:58 PM
Subject: RE: [Taxacom] Hedges /Kumar (eds) The Timetree of Life


> If we find evidence that the particular species WAS there, even for a 
> short
> time, then we have to invoke # 1if the species is not there today.
> So, circling in on my own logic, if a species that was there, established, 
> and is
> now gone (extinct), can I invoke # 1 again?
> Surely, if it was there and does not carry on indefinitely, then it has to 
> be # 1.

I disagree.  That a species does not live somewhere, where it once lived in 
the past, does not mean it *cannot* live there now.  It only means that it 
failed (for whatever reason) when it was there before.  Perhaps it failed 
because conditions are such that it cannot live there; but it may also have 
failed as a result of anomalous circumstances  that no longer apply (e.g., 
unusual climate conditions, catastrophic event, predator that has also gone 
extinct; prey that went extinct but has since become re-established, etc.).

Aloha,
Rich