I posted this in The Newsgroup that Cannot Be Named, and someone named
"Dopey" suggested I post it here too. So:
[moderator's note: Duh-hee! - JAH]
Wheeler, Quentin D., and Norman I. Platnick. 2000. The phylogenetic species concept (sensu Wheeler
and Platnick). In Species concepts and phylogenetic theory: A debate, edited by Q. D. Wheeler and R.
Meier. New York: Columbia University Press, 55-69; on page 62:
<bq> "The process of evolution" has become an unfortunate cliché in biology textbooks, perpetuating
a sloppiness in the use of the word _evolution_ that contributes to semantic confusion. Textbook
definitions about changes in gene frequency notwithstanding, there is no "process of evolution."
Instead, evolutionary patterns are the cumulative result of countless kinds of processes acting
singly and in combination. Genetic
astroblemes on the earth's surface, and just plain old luck can all be evolutionary processes.
Fortunately, the end result of evolutionary processes has been a single pattern of common ancestry,
made retrievable by the hierarchical relationships among species' characters and the unique
combination of characters distinguishing (phylogenetic) species. <eq>
I don't think they meant the astroblemes are the cause of evolution, except as local geology, but
the bolides that cause them. Other than that, I thought this worth saying.
--
John Wilkins wilkins.id.au For long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears
you'll cry and all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be