The Evolution of Phylogenetic Systematics

by Andrew Hamilton (Editor)

Overview

The Evolution of Phylogenetic Systematics aims to make sense of the rise of phylogenetic systematics—its methods, its objects of study, and its theoretical foundations—with contributions from historians, philosophers, and biologists. This volume articulates an intellectual agenda for the study of systematics and taxonomy in a way that connects classification with larger historical themes in the biological sciences, including morphology, experimental and observational approaches, evolution, biogeography, debates over form and function, character transformation, development, and biodiversity. It aims to provide frameworks for answering the question: how did systematics become phylogenetic?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520276581
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	11/09/2013
Series:	Species and Systematics , #5
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Andrew Hamilton is Associate Dean in the Honors College at the University of Houston.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

Introduction
Andrew Hamilton

Part One. Historical Foundations
1. Reflections on the History of Systematics
Robert E. Kohler

2. Willi Hennig’s Part in the History of Systematics
Michael Schmitt

3. Homology as a Bridge between Evolutionary Morphology, Developmental Evolution, and Phylogenetic Systematics
Manfred D. Laubichler

Part Two. Conceptual Foundations
4. Historical and Conceptual Perspectives on Modern Systematics: Groups, Ranks, and the Phylogenetic Turn
Andrew Hamilton

5. The Early Cladogenesis of Cladistics
Olivier Rieppel

6. Cladistics at an Earlier Time
Gareth Nelson

7. Patterson’s Curse, Molecular Homology, and the Data Matrix
David M. Williams and Malte C. Ebach

8. History and Theory in the Development of Phylogenetics in Botany: Toward the Future
Brent D. Mishler

Part Three. Technology, Concepts, and Practice
9. Well-Structured Biology: Numerical Taxonomy’s Epistemic Vision for Systematics
Beckett Sterner

10. A Comparison of Alternative Form-Characterization: Approaches to the Automated Identification of Biological Species
Norman MacLeod

11. The New Systematics, the New Taxonomy, and the Future of Biodiversity Studies
Quentin Wheeler and Andrew Hamilton

Index

Editorial Reviews

"The Evolution of Phylogenetic Systematics succeeds in offering useful historical context for understanding the current state of systematics but also shows the consequences of the continued absence of a philosophically rigorous foundation with which to justify the variety of opinions regarding its operation—good fodder for the continued evolution of systematics."

BioScience

"Phylogenetic Systematics has become a patchwork of attitudes, concepts, and methods, with regional traditions that can only be understood against the historical background of the impact of influential scientists. This book can help to escape intellectual endemisms, to remember what has already been discussed in the past, and to learn from errors that do not improve even when they are frequently repeated. . . . Recommend[ed] . . . to all students and reseachers interested in Phylogenetic Systematics."

Systematic Biology