Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Anatomical structures and morphologies
- 3 Body colorations
- 4 Sexual features and reproductive lifestyles
- 5 More behaviors and ecologies
- 6 Cellular, physiological, and genetic traits
- 7 Geographical distributions
- Epilog
- Appendix: a primer on phylogenetic character mapping
- Glossary
- References and further reading
- Index
Epilog
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Anatomical structures and morphologies
- 3 Body colorations
- 4 Sexual features and reproductive lifestyles
- 5 More behaviors and ecologies
- 6 Cellular, physiological, and genetic traits
- 7 Geographical distributions
- Epilog
- Appendix: a primer on phylogenetic character mapping
- Glossary
- References and further reading
- Index
Summary
Before closing, I want to reiterate two disclaimers. First, although I have emphasized the utility of molecular phylogenies as historical backdrops for interpreting organismal ecology and evolution, this was done primarily to provide a coherent theme and organizational framework for this book. In truth, phylogenies can also be successfully estimated by using all sorts of morphological, behavioral, and other organismal traits. Indeed, all phylogenies erected before the 1960s, and many since then, have been based on directly observable phenotypic traits rather than on proteins and nucleic acids. Usually, well-supported molecular phylogenies tend to agree with seemingly well-supported morphological phylogenies, as expected. Occasionally, however, they appear at face value to disagree; as I have tried to illustrate by examples, resolution of the discord can be mutually illuminating about both molecular and organismal evolution. I have emphasized molecular phylogenetic approaches because they have offered exciting new perspectives on the biological world, and if I disproportionately spotlighted apparent phylogenetic conflicts between different types of data, it is only because these are the most scientifically interesting.
Second, for any or all of the case studies examined, the specific biological conclusions reached (either by the original authors or by myself) remain provisional for several reasons. For example, there is ongoing debate about the relative phylogenetic merits of different types of molecular data and their statistical analyses, controversies continue about precise historical relationships within many if not most of the taxonomic groups considered, and reservations typically abound about numerous details of the comparative phylogenetic approach and PCM analyses themselves (see Chapter 1 and the Appendix).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Evolutionary Pathways in NatureA Phylogenetic Approach, pp. 221 - 222Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006