Beyond Cladistics

Beyond Cladistics PDF Author: David Mervyn Williams
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520267729
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
"This multifarious volume does a splendid job of reflecting the breadth and depth of fundamental questions about the methods of systematics and biogeography, from the practical applications of conservation biology to issues of wide interest to evolutionary biologists."--Dr. Norman I. Platnick, American Museum of Natural History "A fun and informative volume that everyone interested in the subject will enjoy. This book is full of important discussions on Botany, Cladistics, and Biogeography."--Vicki Funk, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution "The Branching Of A Paradigm is the intriguing theme of this volume on the myriad of ways cladistics has impacted modern biology. Surprises from floristics to recent thoughts on epistemology await the reader."--Dennis Stevenson, New York Botanical Garden

Beyond Cladistics

Beyond Cladistics PDF Author: David Mervyn Williams
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520267729
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
"This multifarious volume does a splendid job of reflecting the breadth and depth of fundamental questions about the methods of systematics and biogeography, from the practical applications of conservation biology to issues of wide interest to evolutionary biologists."--Dr. Norman I. Platnick, American Museum of Natural History "A fun and informative volume that everyone interested in the subject will enjoy. This book is full of important discussions on Botany, Cladistics, and Biogeography."--Vicki Funk, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution "The Branching Of A Paradigm is the intriguing theme of this volume on the myriad of ways cladistics has impacted modern biology. Surprises from floristics to recent thoughts on epistemology await the reader."--Dennis Stevenson, New York Botanical Garden

Beyond Cladistics

Beyond Cladistics PDF Author: David M. Williams
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520947991
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 501

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Book Description
Cladistics, or phylogenetic systematics—an approach to discovering, unraveling, and testing hypotheses of evolutionary history—took hold during a turbulent and acrimonious time in the history of systematics. During this period—the 1960s and 1970s—much of the foundation of modern systematic methodology was established as cladistic approaches became widely accepted. Virtually complete by the end of the 1980s, the wide perception has been that little has changed. This volume vividly illustrates that cladistic methodologies have continued to be developed, improved upon, and effectively used in ever widening analytically imaginative ways.

Cladistics

Cladistics PDF Author: David M. Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107008107
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
This new edition of a foundational text presents a contemporary review of cladistics, as applied to biological classification. It provides a comprehensive account of the past fifty years of discussion on the relationship between classification, phylogeny and evolution. It covers cladistics in the era of molecular data, detailing new advances and ideas that have emerged over the last twenty-five years. Written in an accessible style by internationally renowned authors in the field, readers are straightforwardly guided through fundamental principles and terminology. Simple worked examples and easy-to-understand diagrams also help readers navigate complex problems that have perplexed scientists for centuries. This practical guide is an essential addition for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in taxonomy, systematics, comparative biology, evolutionary biology and molecular biology.

Species Problems and Beyond

Species Problems and Beyond PDF Author: John S. Wilkins
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000549798
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Species Problems and Beyond offers a collection of up-to-date essays discussing from an interdisciplinary perspective the many ramifications of the ‘Species Problem.’ The authors represent experts in the philosophy of biology, in species-level evolutionary investigations, and in biodiversity studies and conservation. Some of the topics addressed concern the context sensitivity of the term ‘species’; species as individuals, processes, natural kinds, or as ‘operative concepts’; species delimitation in the age of Big (genomic) Data; and taxonomic inflation and its consequences for conservation strategies. The carefully edited volume will be an invaluable resource for philosophers of biology and evolutionary biologists alike. – Olivier Rieppel, Rowe Family Curator of Evolutionary Biology, Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum, USA Species, or ‘the Species Problem’, is a topic in science, in the philosophy of science, and in general philosophy. In fact, it encompasses many aspects of the same problem, and these are dealt with in this volume. Species are often thought of as fundamental units of biological matter to be used in ecology, conservation, classification, and biodiversity. The chapters in this book present opposing views on the current philosophical and conceptual issues of the Species Problem in biology. Divided into four sections, Concepts and Theories, Practice and Methods, Ranks and Trees and Names, and Metaphysics and Epistemologies, the book is authored by biologists, philosophers, and historians, many leaders in their fields. Topics include ontology of species, definitions of both species category and units, species rank, speciation issues, nomenclature, ecology, and species conservation. Species Problems and Beyond aims to clarify the contemporary issues of the Species Problem. It is ideal for use in upper-level seminars and courses in Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Systematics and Taxonomy, and Phylogenetics/Cladistics, and for any scholar in these fields.

Cladistics

Cladistics PDF Author: Ian J. Kitching
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198501381
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Systematics underpins all of biology. Cladistics is a method of systematic classification that aims to reconstruct genealogies based on common ancestry, thus revealing the phylogenetic relationships between taxa. Its applications vary from linguistic analysis to the study of conservation and biodiversity, and it has become a method of choice for comparative studies in all fields of biology. For all students interested in the systematic relationships among organisms, this book provides an integrated, state-of-the-art account of the techniques and methods of modern cladistics, and how to put them into practice.

Deep Time

Deep Time PDF Author: Henry Gee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cladistic analysis
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
In Deep Time, Henry Gee, assistant editor of Nature, shows us that everything we think we know about evolution is wrong. He also reveals the scientific proof of what came first - the chicken or the egg. It was the egg. For a long time, popular scientists have told us that by looking at a fossilized bone we could tell whether it belonged to our ancestors or not. This is not true.

Transformed Cladistics, Taxonomy and Evolution

Transformed Cladistics, Taxonomy and Evolution PDF Author: N. R. Scott-Ram
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521340861
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This is an examination of the relationship between classification and evolutionary theory, with reference to the competing schools of taxonomic thinking. Emphasis is placed on one of these schools, the transformed cladists who have attempted to reject all evolutionary thinking in classification and to cast doubt on evolution in general. The author examines the limits to this line of thought from a philosophical and methodological perspective. He concludes that transformed cladistics does not achieve what it claims and that it either implicitly assumes a Platonic World View, or is unintelligible without taking into account evolutionary processes--the very processes it claims to reject. Through this analysis the author attempts to formulate criteria of an objective and consistent nature that can be used to judge competing methodologies and theories. Philosophers of science, zoologists interested in taxonomy, and evolutionary biologists will find this a compelling study.

In Search of Deep Time

In Search of Deep Time PDF Author: Henry Gee
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801487132
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Cladistics--the science of comparison--is transforming the way paleontologists view evolution. In Search of Deep Time strips away conventional assumptions about the evolution of life to reveal a world that may be far stranger and more humbling than had been previously imagined. The concept of deep time was first used by John McPhee to describe intervals of time incomprehensibly greater than our daily experience. Henry Gee explains the rise of cladistics as the best technique for making sense of the organic changes that unfold within deep time.

The Future of Phylogenetic Systematics

The Future of Phylogenetic Systematics PDF Author: David Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110711764X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
This book documents Willi Hennig's founding of phylogenetic systematics and the relevancy of his work for the future of cladistics.

Renegotiating Disciplinary Fields in the Life Sciences

Renegotiating Disciplinary Fields in the Life Sciences PDF Author: Alessandro Minelli
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 303650124X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Recent and ongoing debates in biology and the philosophy of biology reveal a widespread dissatisfaction with traditional explanatory frameworks. There are also problems with the current definitions or circumscriptions of key concepts such as gene, species, and homology, and even of whole disciplinary fields within the life sciences, e.g. developmental biology. These contrasting views are arguably a symptom of the need to revisit traditional, unchallenged partitions between the specialist disciplines within the life sciences. In the diversity of topics addressed and approaches to move beyond the current disciplinary organization, the five essays in this volume will hopefully stimulate further exploration towards an improved articulation of life sciences.