[Taxacom] Forgotting at the edge of miracles

[Stephen Thorpe]

Biogeography is just a pompous "academic" (in the worst sense) waste of time! Putting aside, for present purposes, the vast issue of marine biogeography, chance transoceanic dispersal of terrestrials is *unlikely*, yes, but all that means is that it isn't going to happen lots of times in a short stretch of time. Given many millions of years, it can still happen often enough to be a significant factor. There seems to be a slide from "unlikely to happen" to "can't happen"! Any academic discipline which is based ultimately on chance events is not going to be very useful! Biogeography ... we don't need to know! The existence of sister taxa on adjacent islands (or other landmasses) can be explained equally well by dispersal (since dispersal is most likely to happen between adjacent landmasses) or by vicariance (since vicariance is most likely to happen between adjacent landmasses)!

Stephen

--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 26/4/15, Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Forgotting at the edge of miracles
 To: "'Anthony Gill'" <gill.anthony at gmail.com>, "'Karl Magnacca'" <kmagnacca at wesleyan.edu>
 Cc: "'TAXACOM'" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>, "'Dr. Antonio Lopez'" <cycas at mnhnc.inf.cu>
 Received: Sunday, 26 April, 2015, 12:35 AM
 
 The same argument could
 be applied to ANY model of biogeography (dispersal,
 vicariance, panbiogeography, etc., etc.)  That is, any
 presumption that any single model accounts for every pattern
 (or even most patterns) is, in my opinion, naïve.  This is
 not to say that, in the end, one model does not dominate. 
 But we are SO, SO, SO far away from understanding both
 evolutionary history and the actual distribution patterns of
 most living things, that only people who don't really
 understand the nature of biodiversity make claims that we
 are close to fully understanding it.
 
 Aloha,
 Rich
 
 
 > -----Original
 Message-----
 > From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
 On Behalf Of
 > Anthony Gill
 > Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2015 1:12 AM
 > To: Karl Magnacca
 > Cc:
 TAXACOM; Dr. Antonio Lopez
 > Subject: Re:
 [Taxacom] Forgotting at the edge of miracles
 > 
 > Of course, there are
 other from beyond panbiogeography that are concerned
 > that dispersal explanations should not be
 given a first-order explanation for
 >
 everything in biogeography. There is pattern to be
 discovered and explored. A
 > presumption
 of dispersal as an explanation for everything makes for
 > uninteresting, and ultimately irrelevant,
 research. I want no part of that.
 > 
 > Tony
 > 
 > On Sat, Apr 25, 2015 at 10:55 AM, Karl
 Magnacca
 > <kmagnacca at wesleyan.edu>
 > wrote:
 > 
 > > On Thu, 23 Apr 2015 13:24:32
 "Dr. Antonio Lopez"
 > >
 <cycas at mnhnc.inf.cu>
 wrote:
 > > > Colleague:
 > > >
 > > >
 Thank you for the article of Head. Only when I read
 everything I am
 > > > able to
 understand and to reason. I never understood that
 supposed
 > > > difference between
 dispersalism and vicariancism as different
 > > > schools.
 >
 >
 > > That's because
 they're not.  It's only in the mind of
 panbiogeograpy
 > > supporters like
 Grehan and Heads, who promote the idea that because
 > > rare trans-oceanic dispersal is
 unlikely, that therefore it never
 > >
 happens (while simultaneously claiming that they say no such
 thing,
 > > invoking the undefined term
 "regular dispersal") that such a dichotomy
 > > exists.
 > >
 > > Karl
 > >
 > >
 _______________________________________________
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 > > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may
 be searched at:
 > > http://taxacom.markmail.org
 > >
 > > Celebrating
 28 years of Taxacom in 2015.
 > >
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > --
 > Dr Anthony C. Gill
 >
 Natural History Curator
 > A12 Macleay
 Museum
 > University of Sydney
 > NSW 2006
 >
 Australia.
 > 
 > Ph.
 +61 02 9036 6499
 >
 _______________________________________________
 > Taxacom Mailing List
 >
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at:
 > http://taxacom.markmail.org
 > 
 > Celebrating 28 years
 of Taxacom in 2015.
 
 _______________________________________________
 Taxacom Mailing List
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
 
 Celebrating 28 years of
 Taxacom in 2015.