D.L. Rabosky, 2009. Ecological limits and diversification rate: alternative
paradigms to explain the variation in species richness among clades and regions.
Ecology Letters 12(8):735-743. ABSTRACT. Diversification rate is one of the most
important metrics in macroecological and macroevolutionary studies. Here I
demonstrate that diversification analyses can be misleading when researchers
assume that diversity increases unbounded through time, as is typical in
molecular phylogenetic studies. If clade diversity is regulated by ecological
factors, then species richness may be independent of clade age and it may not be
possible to infer the rate at which diversity arose. This has substantial
consequences for the interpretation of many studies that have contrasted rates
of diversification among clades and regions. Often, it is possible to estimate
the total diversification experienced by a clade but not diversification rate
itself. I show that the evidence for ecological limits on diversity in higher
taxa is widespread. Finally, I explore the implications of ecological limits for
a variety of ecological and evolutionary questions that involve inferences about
speciation and extinction rates from phylogenetic data.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STEPHAN PICKERING / Chofetz Chayim ben-Avraham

THE DINOSAUR FRACTALS PROJECT

2333 Portola Drive # 4


Santa Cruz, California 95062-4250
stephanpickering@...


website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paleo_bio_dinosaur_ontology?

IN PROGRESS: Mutanda Dinosaurologica: in memory of Samuel Paul Welles (9
November 1909--6 August 1997)

IN PROGRESS: Dialects of a synaesthetic heart: poetics for Faline Pickering, 23
January 1949--24 August 2008

IN PROGR ESS: Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG: the semioptics of Willis
O'Brien

PARTNER IN THE UNIVERSE TO: FALINE PICKERING, MY BELOVED QUANTUM AQUARIUS

MEMBER 13853: SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

One concept c orrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil
whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite. -- J.L. Borges

You never know what's comin' for you. Queenie in Eric Roth's The curious case of
Benjamin Button

What if G-d didn't say it? -- Bart Ehrman
?

IN PROGRESS: Mutanda Dinosaurologica: in memory of Samuel Paul Welles (9
November 1909--6 August 1997)

IN PROGRESS: Dialects of a synaesthetic heart: poetics for Faline Pickering, 23
January 1949--24 August 2008

IN PROGR ESS: Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG: the semioptics of Willis
O'Brien

PARTNER IN THE UNIVERSE TO: FALINE PICKERING, MY BELOVED QUANTUM AQUARIUS

MEMBER 13853: SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

One concept c orrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil
whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite. -- J.L. Borges

You never know what's comin' for you. Queenie in Eric Roth's The curious case of
Benjamin Button

What if G-d didn't say it? -- Bart Ehrman

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