The second in the series “Species and Systematics” 1 Aug 2009 Readers know my book is the first cab off the rank known as “Species and Systematics” at the University of California Press. It was too good to last that I would be the only one. Now Parenti and Ebach have published their Comparative Biogeography as the second volume. They have a blog. Keep an eye on it. Biology Book Ecology and Biodiversity Species and systematics Systematics
Evolution Myth 4: Darwin was a gradualist 19 Feb 2009 This myth has more to do with what people thought their own views contrasted to, than anything Darwin said, but like all myths, there’s a hint of truth underlying it. The problem with this myth is the ambiguity of the term “gradual”. It is a weasel word, which can mean… Read More
Biology When philosophy meets historical taxonomy 5 Apr 2010 Chris Taylor does this absolutely amazing blog. I find myself checking to see if he’s done another one of his wonderful taxon posts, where he picks some usually obscure group of animals and makes them interesting and alive. He’s done it again, for indrids, a group of lemurs, but what… Read More
Evolution Lynch’s challenge to the Orang crowd 7 Jul 2009 Further to the claim I mentioned a while back, on orangutans being the closest species to humans, not chimps, John Lynch has a post up on the phylogeny of ERV sequences in the great apes which show, independently of the methods that Grehan and Schwartz criticised. He asks how they… Read More