Quentin D. Wheeler
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267725
- eISBN:
- 9780520947993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267725.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Ernest Rutherford was more candid about his bias than most experimental biologists are in sharing their view of taxonomy. Experimental biologists do want to collect every species, but the similarity ...
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Ernest Rutherford was more candid about his bias than most experimental biologists are in sharing their view of taxonomy. Experimental biologists do want to collect every species, but the similarity stops there. Their motive is to explore unique characters and all their subsequent modifications through evolutionary history, to determine what they mean in terms of species, relative recency of common ancestry among species, and as the basis for informative and predictive classifications. Taxonomists ask some of the most basic, important, and interesting questions about biodiversity: What are species? What species exist? What is the history of the origin and transformation of their characters? What are their phylogenetic relationships? What are their distributions? And how are they predictively and most informatively classified? Chris Humphries has made superb descriptive taxonomic and anatomical contributions, advanced the theories needed to analyze characters and complete cladistic analyses, proposed innovative tools to use evolutionary history to set conservation priorities, transformed historical biogeography, and served as a constant source of support and encouragement to his colleagues and generations of students.Less
Ernest Rutherford was more candid about his bias than most experimental biologists are in sharing their view of taxonomy. Experimental biologists do want to collect every species, but the similarity stops there. Their motive is to explore unique characters and all their subsequent modifications through evolutionary history, to determine what they mean in terms of species, relative recency of common ancestry among species, and as the basis for informative and predictive classifications. Taxonomists ask some of the most basic, important, and interesting questions about biodiversity: What are species? What species exist? What is the history of the origin and transformation of their characters? What are their phylogenetic relationships? What are their distributions? And how are they predictively and most informatively classified? Chris Humphries has made superb descriptive taxonomic and anatomical contributions, advanced the theories needed to analyze characters and complete cladistic analyses, proposed innovative tools to use evolutionary history to set conservation priorities, transformed historical biogeography, and served as a constant source of support and encouragement to his colleagues and generations of students.
Malcolm Gordon (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240247
- eISBN:
- 9780520930636
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240247.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
We are living in the early stages of a looming worldwide extinction crisis. Abundant evidence shows that the current rate of species extinctions is nearing its highest level since the asteroid ...
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We are living in the early stages of a looming worldwide extinction crisis. Abundant evidence shows that the current rate of species extinctions is nearing its highest level since the asteroid collision 65 million years ago, and that humans are largely responsible. This book addresses the urgent need to understand and find solutions to this crisis. The book provides a unique approach by focusing on individual species rather than whole plant and animal communities. Emphasizing throughout how conservation biology can benefit from an experimental approach, the book looks at a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic species —from giant pandas and tree snails to sea turtles and Steller sea lions—and demonstrates what can be done both to preserve rare species and to combat invasive organisms. Finally, chapters show how we can bridge the gap between policy makers and research scientists in order to develop lasting solutions to these problems.Less
We are living in the early stages of a looming worldwide extinction crisis. Abundant evidence shows that the current rate of species extinctions is nearing its highest level since the asteroid collision 65 million years ago, and that humans are largely responsible. This book addresses the urgent need to understand and find solutions to this crisis. The book provides a unique approach by focusing on individual species rather than whole plant and animal communities. Emphasizing throughout how conservation biology can benefit from an experimental approach, the book looks at a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic species —from giant pandas and tree snails to sea turtles and Steller sea lions—and demonstrates what can be done both to preserve rare species and to combat invasive organisms. Finally, chapters show how we can bridge the gap between policy makers and research scientists in order to develop lasting solutions to these problems.
