Author: David M. Williams Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 0387727302 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 324
Book Description
Anyone interested in comparative biology or the history of science will find this myth-busting work genuinely fascinating. It draws attention to the seminal studies and important advances that have shaped systematic and biogeographic thinking. It traces concepts in homology and classification from the 19th century to the present through the provision of a unique anthology of scientific writings from Goethe, Agassiz, Owen, Naef, Zangerl and Nelson, among others.
Author: Lynne Parenti Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520944399 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
To unravel the complex shared history of the Earth and its life forms, biogeographers analyze patterns of biodiversity, species distribution, and geological history. So far, the field of biogeography has been fragmented into divergent systematic and evolutionary approaches, with no overarching or unifying research theme or method. In this text, Lynne Parenti and Malte Ebach address this discord and outline comparative tools to unify biogeography. Rooted in phylogenetic systematics, this comparative biogeographic approach offers a comprehensive empirical framework for discovering and deciphering the patterns and processes of the distribution of life on Earth. The authors cover biogeography from its fundamental ideas to the most effective ways to implement them. Real-life examples illustrate concepts and problems, including the first comparative biogeographical analysis of the Indo-West Pacific, an introduction to biogeographical concepts rooted in the earth sciences, and the integration of phylogeny, evolution and earth history.
Author: Mark V. Lomolino Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 9780226492377 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 1284
Book Description
Foundations of Biogeography provides facsimile reprints of seventy-two works that have proven fundamental to the development of the field. From classics by Georges-Louis LeClerc Compte de Buffon, Alexander von Humboldt, and Charles Darwin to equally seminal contributions by Ernst Mayr, Robert MacArthur, and E. O. Wilson, these papers and book excerpts not only reveal biogeography's historical roots but also trace its theoretical and empirical development. Selected and introduced by leading biogeographers, the articles cover a wide variety of taxonomic groups, habitat types, and geographic regions. Foundations of Biogeography will be an ideal introduction to the field for beginning students and an essential reference for established scholars of biogeography, ecology, and evolution. List of Contributors John C. Briggs, James H. Brown, Vicki A. Funk, Paul S. Giller, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Lawrence R. Heaney, Robert Hengeveld, Christopher J. Humphries, Mark V. Lomolino, Alan A. Myers, Brett R. Riddle, Dov F. Sax, Geerat J. Vermeij, Robert J. Whittaker
Author: Jorge CRISCI Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674030044 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 263
Book Description
Though biogeography may be simply defined--the study of the geographic distributions of organisms--the subject itself is extraordinarily complex, involving a range of scientific disciplines and a bewildering diversity of approaches. For convenience, biogeographers have recognized two research traditions: ecological biogeography and historical biogeography. This book makes sense of the profound revolution that historical biogeography has undergone in the last two decades, and of the resulting confusion over its foundations, basic concepts, methods, and relationships to other disciplines of comparative biology. Using case studies, the authors explain and illustrate the fundamentals and the most frequently used methods of this discipline. They show the reader how to tell when a historical biogeographic approach is called for, how to decide what kind of data to collect, how to choose the best method for the problem at hand, how to perform the necessary calculations, how to choose and apply a computer program, and how to interpret results.
Author: Mark Lomolino Publisher: Sinauer ISBN: 9781605354729 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Biogeography, first published in 1983, is one of the most comprehensive text and general reference books in the natural sciences. The Fifth Edition builds on the strengths of previous editions to provide an insightful and integrative explanation of how geographic variation across terrestrial and marine environments has influenced the fundamental processes of immigration, extinction, and evolution to shape species distributions and nearly all patterns of biological diversity. It is an empirically and conceptually rich text that illustrates general patterns and processes using examples from a broad diversity of life forms, time periods and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Its fundamental assertion is that patterns in biological diversity make little sense unless viewed within an explicit geographic context. Starting from principal patterns and fundamental principles, and assuming only a rudimentary knowledge of biology, geography, and Earth history, the text explains the relationships between geographic variation in biological diversity and the geological, ecological, and evolutionary processes that have produced them. The use of color illustrations, evaluated and optimized for colorblind readers, has transformed our abilities to illustrate key concepts and empirical patterns in the geography of nature. By providing a description of the historical development of biogeography, evolution and ecology, along with a comprehensive account of the principal patterns, fundamental principles and recent advances in each of these fields of science, our ultimate vision is for Biogeography to serve as the centerpiece of a one- or two-semester core course in biological diversity.
Author: Andrew Hamilton Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520956753 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
The Evolution of Phylogenetic Systematics aims to make sense of the rise of phylogenetic systematics—its methods, its objects of study, and its theoretical foundations—with contributions from historians, philosophers, and biologists. This volume articulates an intellectual agenda for the study of systematics and taxonomy in a way that connects classification with larger historical themes in the biological sciences, including morphology, experimental and observational approaches, evolution, biogeography, debates over form and function, character transformation, development, and biodiversity. It aims to provide frameworks for answering the question: how did systematics become phylogenetic?
Author: Michael Heads Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520951808 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 577
Book Description
Molecular studies reveal highly ordered geographic patterns in plant and animal distributions. The tropics illustrate these patterns of community immobilism leading to allopatric differentiation, as well as other patterns of mobilism, range expansion, and overlap of taxa. Integrating Earth history and biogeography, Molecular Panbiogeography of the Tropics is an alternative view of distributional history in which groups are older than suggested by fossils and fossil-calibrated molecular clocks. The author discusses possible causes for the endemism of high-level taxa in tropical America and Madagascar, and overlapping clades in South America, Africa, and Asia. The book concludes with a critique of adaptation by selection, founded on biogeography and recent work in genetics.
Author: E. O. Wiley Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1118017870 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 444
Book Description
The long-awaited revision of the industry standard on phylogenetics Since the publication of the first edition of this landmark volume more than twenty-five years ago, phylogenetic systematics has taken its place as the dominant paradigm of systematic biology. It has profoundly influenced the way scientists study evolution, and has seen many theoretical and technical advances as the field has continued to grow. It goes almost without saying that the next twenty-five years of phylogenetic research will prove as fascinating as the first, with many exciting developments yet to come. This new edition of Phylogenetics captures the very essence of this rapidly evolving discipline. Written for the practicing systematist and phylogeneticist, it addresses both the philosophical and technical issues of the field, as well as surveys general practices in taxonomy. Major sections of the book deal with the nature of species and higher taxa, homology and characters, trees and tree graphs, and biogeography—the purpose being to develop biologically relevant species, character, tree, and biogeographic concepts that can be applied fruitfully to phylogenetics. The book then turns its focus to phylogenetic trees, including an in-depth guide to tree-building algorithms. Additional coverage includes: Parsimony and parsimony analysis Parametric phylogenetics including maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches Phylogenetic classification Critiques of evolutionary taxonomy, phenetics, and transformed cladistics Specimen selection, field collecting, and curating Systematic publication and the rules of nomenclature Providing a thorough synthesis of the field, this important update to Phylogenetics is essential for students and researchers in the areas of evolutionary biology, molecular evolution, genetics and evolutionary genetics, paleontology, physical anthropology, and zoology.
Author: Ward C. Wheeler Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell ISBN: 9780470671702 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Systematics: A Course of Lectures is designed for use in an advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level course in systematics and is meant to present core systematic concepts and literature. The book covers topics such as the history of systematic thinking and fundamental concepts in the field including species concepts, homology, and hypothesis testing. Analytical methods are covered in detail with chapters devoted to sequence alignment, optimality criteria, and methods such as distance, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Trees and tree searching, consensus and super-tree methods, support measures, and other relevant topics are each covered in their own sections. The work is not a bleeding-edge statement or in-depth review of the entirety of systematics, but covers the basics as broadly as could be handled in a one semester course. Most chapters are designed to be a single 1.5 hour class, with those on parsimony, likelihood, posterior probability, and tree searching two classes (2 x 1.5 hours).
Author: David M. Williams
Author: Lynne Parenti
Author: Mark V. Lomolino
Author: Gareth J. Nelson
Author: Jorge CRISCI
Author: Mark Lomolino
Author: Andrew Hamilton
Author: Michael Heads
Author: E. O. Wiley
Author: Ward C. Wheeler