[Taxacom] (no subject)

[Robin Leech]

Aw Shucks, Jason, 
All evolution is by chance and without direction. 
If we have fossil records, we can know the direction evolution has come to
the present, but 
we would, for the most part, be guessing what chances will occur, and what
directions the evolution will go in
the future. 
I say "for the most part", because in cases where we observe an apterous or
brachypterous insect, we can pretty 
well state that flight is not in its descendants package of activities.
Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Jason Mate
Sent: October-21-11 2:51 PM
To: Taxacom
Subject: [Taxacom] (no subject)


Dear Michael, some of the comments need clarification."Accepting a literal
reading of the fossil record implies that biogeography is caused by random
trans-oceanic dispersal and that any repeated patterns are
meaningless.""...but you don't accept biogeographic evidence as it is all
caused by chance."Current biogeography is built upon two mechanisms,
vicariance and dispersal. From your writings I assume (maybe I?m wrong) that
you only truly accept a form of vicariance.  In addition, repeating patterns
may or may not indicate vicariance.Repeated dispersal along particular
routes can result in patterns. 
"So why are more and more authors putting distribution maps in their
abstracts at Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution? Are all these simple,
clear-cut distributions really just due to chance?" 
Why bring-up MPE specifically? It is a pretty bizarre comment. Maps are a
handy way to convey information, they are not a prelude to track-drawing, so
it is no wonder people use them more."If they are not, this suggests that a
literal reading of the fossil record might be misleading."I would add that
the notion that the fossil record is completely unreliable, thus essentially
eliminating lower limits is misleading as well. Taxa can be and are
evaluated not just on their direct fossil evidence but on that of higher or
related clades. So, even if the evidence for a group is lacking there is
often outgroup fossil evidence that can be brought to bear on the problem.
Best
Jason 		 	   		  
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