Taxacom: Galapagos

Tue Jul 2 15:47:50 CDT 2024

Sorry- have raised this theme so often that I can forget that it's not
necessarily obvious. Just further showing the problematic nature of science
in the systematics-evolution world where the suppression of alternatives is
problematic for the state of a science - whether it is a science any longer
or something else. The Galapagos is an excellent indicator (just as there
are 'indicator species' for the health of biodiversity, I guess there can
be 'indicator localities') for the health of scientific research since it
is such a central focus for evolutionary theorists (Darwin being there and
all that). And with the Grant & Grant paper one is dealing with one of the
iconic taxa in evolutionary theory. So it gets interesting in the way
alternatives appear not to exist. Some on this list may be interested,
others not. So this is for those interested in the philosophy and history
of systematics/taxonomy and evolutionary biology, and apologies to others.

Cheers, John

On Tue, Jul 2, 2024 at 4:28 PM Michael A. Ivie via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> What is your point with these emails to this list?
>
> On 7/2/2024 2:20 PM, John Grehan via Taxacom wrote:
> > **External Sender**
> >
> > Ah! Just seen that I had already sent this out a while back, but forgot
> > that. Well, at least this is an update.
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 2, 2024 at 4:19 PM John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Below, June communication with R & P Grant re Galapagos finches. No
> >> response (not surprisingly due to previous lack of response). This is a
> >> world where alternatives do not exist.
> >>
> >> John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com>
> >> prgrant at princeton.edu rgrant at princeton.edu
> >>
> >> Thu, Jun 6, 12:33 PM
> >> to rgrant, prgrant
> >>
> >> Dear colleagues,
> >>
> >> I noticed in your ms "From Microcosm to Macrocosm: Adaptive Radiation of
> >> Darwin’s Finches"  the following assertion: "At least 18 species evolved
> >> from a common ancestor (Fig. 1) in the relatively short time of one to
> two
> >> million years (Barker et al., 2015; Lamichhaney et al., 2015):"
> >>
> >> While I acknowledge that this is your preferred evolutionary model, as
> you
> >> know, there is alternative biogeographic evidence published in support
> of a
> >> much older origin for these and other biota of the Galapagos - as you
> would
> >> know from the copy of Heads & Grehan (2021) sent to you as a courtesy.
> But
> >> while you may believe in a particular model, you present it as a
> statement
> >> of fact rather than a preference. This is misleading as it gives the
> >> impression that no scientific alternative exists. Surely, in the
> interests
> >> of science and open exploration, the readership needs to know the
> context
> >> of your belief. I would suggest as an open and honest declaration, that
> >> your statement be modified to:  "At least 18 species evolved from a
> common
> >> ancestor (Fig. 1) that we believe occured in a relatively short time of
> one
> >> to two million years (Barker et al., 2015; Lamichhaney et al., 2015),
> >> although older origins have been proposed from biogeographic evidence
> >> (Heads & Grehan 2021):" Surely that is not too much to ask?
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> John Grehan
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhepialidsoftheworld.com.au%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C61ce07caa11748845a6d08dc9ad85388%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638555501104140013%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2o7HvEt2b5FLf5pvUWz57Hxe8kzHou0Syhj3HUtDS34%3D&reserved=0 (use the 'visit archived web site'
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> >>
> >
> > --
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> --
> __________________________________________________
>
> Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
>
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>
>
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link, then the 'Ghost Moth Research page' link.