[Taxacom] Dispersal example

[Michael Heads]

Hi Curtis,

Most of us were taught the old idea that mutation is random and that the
course of evolution is determined by selection. But many geneticists now
think that mutation is biased and that this bias can in itself determine
evolution. This has been argued by Masatoshi Nei, one of the pioneers of
molecular biology and evolution (his work has been cited 196000 times). His
latest book - nice and short and clear - is called 'Mutation-driven
evolution'. (OUP, 2013)  This idea is compatible with Darwin's later work
(post-1859) where he rejects his earlier panadaptationism (this is always
'overlooked' by the so-called  'neodarwinians'), and also with Croizat's
'orthogenesis'.

Michael


On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 6:41 AM, Curtis Clark <lists at curtisclark.org> wrote:

> On 2014-04-17 4:26 PM, John Grehan wrote:
> > ...dispersalist have
> > for a long time asserted that chance dispersal can account for any
> > distribution.
>
> Thus dispersal cannot be falsified. It only serves as an explanation
> when all falsifiable alternatives have been falsified. IMO
> panbiogeography has a lot of unnecessary baggage (orthogenesis being a
> major one), but this part makes sense.
>
> --
> Curtis Clark        http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark
> Biological Sciences                   +1 909 869 4140
> Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona CA 91768
>
>
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-- 
Dunedin, New Zealand.

My recent books:

*Molecular panbiogeography of the tropics.* 2012. University of California
Press, Berkeley. www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271968

*Biogeography of Australasia:  A molecular analysis*. 2014. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge. www.cambridge.org/9781107041028