Cladistics : a practical course in systematics

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Bibliographic Information

Cladistics : a practical course in systematics

by Peter L. Forey ... [et al.]

(Systematics Association publications, 10)

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, c1992

  • U.S.

Available at  / 24 libraries

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Note

Updated and revised version of the manual prepared for the Systematics Association 1991 workshop

Bibliography: p. [170]-184

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780198577669

Description

Systematics underpins all of biology. Cladistics is a method of systematic classification that has become applied to comparative studies in all fields of biology. In cladistics, the genealogies that are reconstructed are based on common ancestry rather than on overall similarity. True phylogenetic relationships are thus revealed. To meet the need for training, the Systematics Association has sponsored a short course on cladistics. The interest sparked by this course was such that the course material has been gathered together in this book, now available in paperback. To introduce the subject, the principle of parsimony and methods for character coding and determining character polarity are first presented. Methods of cladistic tree-building follow, and tree statistics are detailed. Alternatives to parsimony, molecular applications of cladistics, and the relevance of fossils are then discussed. The concluding chapters review two important topics in cladistics: cladistic biogeography and the implementation of cladistics results in systematics. This book provides an up-to-date account of the techniques of modern cladistics, written in a clear, readable style. As such, it should be an invaluable text for all students interest in systematics and comparative studies.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Cladistic theory
  • 2. Character coding
  • 3. The determination of character polarity
  • 4. Tree-building techniques
  • 5. Tree statistics
  • 6. DNA analysis: theory
  • 7. DNA analysis: methods
  • 8. Fossils and cladistic analysis
  • 9. Cladistic biogeography
  • 10. Formal classification
Volume

U.S. ISBN 9780198577676

Description

Systematics underpins all biology. Cladistics is a systematic method of classification which classifies organisms on the basis of common ancestry rather than on simple anatomical similarity. True phylogenic relationships are thus revealed. This book is based on a course sponsored by the Systematics Association. To introduce the subject, the principle of parsimony and methods for character coding and determining character polarity are first presented. Methods of cladistic tree-building follow, and tree statistics are detailed. Alternatives to parsimony, molecular applications of cladistics and the relevance of fossils are then discussed. The concluding chapters review two important topics in cladistics: cladistic biogeography and the implementation of cladistic results in systematics. This book provides an account of the techniques of modern cladistics, and should prove useful for students interested in systematics and comparative studies.

Table of Contents

  • Part 1 Cladistic theory: form - homology and analogy
  • special similarity
  • conflicting similarities and parsimony
  • the relations between similarities
  • homoplasty and the interpretation of character conflict
  • monophyletic, paraphyletic and polyphyletic groups
  • sister groups and ancestor-descendant relationships
  • the transformation of cladistics
  • phenetics
  • eclectic of evolutionary taxonomy. Part 2 Character coding: character types
  • binary characteristics
  • multistate characters
  • transformation between character states
  • unordered and ordered characters
  • additive binary coding
  • branched character state trees
  • other user-defined models of transformation
  • character popularity
  • cladograms and roots. Part 3 The determination of character polarity: outgroup comparison - the indirect method
  • ontogeny - the direct method
  • inadequate criteria
  • ingroup commonality
  • a priori models - Robertsonian changes, allelic dominance hierarchy, functional morphology, underlying synapomorphy. Part 4 Tree building techniques: parsimony criteria - Wagner, Fitch, Dollo, Camin-Sokal, polymorphism, generalized
  • delayed and accelerated transformations
  • optimization of "missing" values
  • x-coding
  • searching for the most parsimonious trees
  • - exact algorithms, heuristic methods. Part 5 Tree statistics, trees and "confidence", concensus trees, alternatives to parsimony, character weighting, character conflict and its resolution: tree statistics - tree length, measures of fit between trees and data
  • trees and confidence - bootstrap and jackknife, randomization, data decisiveness
  • consensus trees - strict consensus, combinable components consensus, Nelson consensus, Adams consensus
  • alternatives to parsimony - cliques, maximum likelihood, three-taxon statements
  • phenetics
  • character weighting
  • character conflict and its resolution - re-evaluation of characters, consensus trees. Part 6 DNA analysis - theory: homology, homology testing - similarity, conjunction, congruence, results of testing for homology, orthology, paralogy, xenology, paraxenology, plerology
  • nucleotide sequence data - the characters - substitutions, gaps, insertions and deletions (indels)
  • tree construction - preliminaries
  • note on rooting trees. Part 7 DNA analysis - methods: matrix methods - definitions, distance measures, metrics, tree reconstruction - phenetic methods, distance methods, problems
  • parsimony methods - weighing, a priori weighting, a posteriori weighting, problems, invariants. Part 8 Fossils and cladistic analysis: fossils and ancestors
  • age and rank
  • stem groups and crown groups
  • influence of fossils on classification of recent organisms - missing data, basal taxa, fossils and stratigraphy. Part 9 Cladistics and biogeography: life and earth together
  • cladistics and biogeography - the progression rule, vacariance biogeography. (part contents)

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