Morphology, shape and phylogeny

Norman MacLeod, Peter L. Forey0415240743, 9780415240741, 0203165179, 9780203165171, 9780203279618

Generally, biologists and mathematicians who study the shape and form of organisms have largely been working in isolation from those who work on evolutionary relationships through the analysis of common characteristics. Increasingly however, dialogue between the two communities is beginning to develop – but other than a handful of journal papers, there has been no formal, published discussion on this subject. This timely book summarises the interdisciplinary work that has taken place to date and will stimulate additional research into these topics. Any scientist working on evolutionary relationships will find this volume invaluable.

---

Table of contents :
Book Cover……Page 1
Title……Page 4
Contents……Page 5
List of contributors……Page 8
Preface……Page 10
Introduction: morphology, shape, and phylogenetics……Page 12
Homology, characters and continuous variables……Page 19
Quantitative characters, phylogenies, and morphometrics……Page 38
Scaling, polymorphism and cladistic analysis……Page 56
Overlapping variables in botanical systematics……Page 64
Comparability, morphometrics and phylogenetic systematics……Page 78
Phylogenetic signals in morphometric data……Page 111
Creases as morphometric characters……Page 150
Geometric morphometrics and phylogeny……Page 186
A parametric bootstrap approach to the detection of phylogenetic signals in landmark data……Page 205
Phylogenetic tests for differences in shape and the importance of divergence times: Eldredge’s enigma explored……Page 231
Ancestral states and evolutionary rates of continuous characters……Page 258
Modelling the evolution of continuously varying characters on phylogenetic trees: the case of Hominid cranial capacity……Page 280
Summary……Page 298
Index……Page 306
Systematics Association Publications……Page 316