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- Title
ON THE NEED TO RENEW THE TAXONOMIC SYSTEM OF THE CANDONINAE (NO N-MARINE OSTRACODA, CRUSTACEA). REFLEXIONS FROM AN ANALYSIS OF DATA USING THE YULE PROCESS.
- Authors
DANIELOPOL, DAN L.; BALTANÁS, ANGEL; ÖSTERREICHER, FERDINAND; MOROCUTTI, URSULA
- Abstract
The history of life is the chronicle of diversification. Each taxonomic group originates from a single ancestor and diversifies into a number of species. The evolutionary process, with its two major components (speciation and extinction), is the force working behind. Several models, i.e. explicit mathematical statements of a hypothesis, have been developed in order to inspect the likely output of the evolutionary process and to compare it with actual diversity patterns observed in Nature. The British statistician George Udny Yule produced one of the earliest attempts of such models, now known as the Yule Process, which leads to the Yule-Simon Distribution. His model and the aforementioned probability distribution belong, as well as the Zeta Distribution used in this contribution, to the large family of Power Laws. It focuses on the distribution of the size (= number of species) of genera within a taxonomic group. Here, the data of the nonmarine ostracod family Candoninae are discussed within the framework of the Yule Process. Beyond explaining the mathematical basis of the model and how to estimate the parameter of both distributions, the fit or lack-of-fit of the Yule Process (the latter used as a neutral model) is further considered as a test for the suitability of the taxonomy of the group currently accepted. Biological/evolutionary factors (like the existence of large endemic flocks of species in ancient lakes) combined with socio-psychological factors (like the principle of Authority) are here reviewed as potential sources of taxonomic misrepresentation. Special attention is devoted to monotypic genera within the Candoninae; their relevance for understanding current taxonomic patterns is largely discussed. The utility of the Yule Process, namely, the Yule-Simon Distribution, as reference background against which to compare taxonomic patterns in the Candoninae, opens new possibilities for the analysis of the evolutionary and epistemological problems of ostracod studies. It is concluded, that the taxonomic system currently accepted for that subfamily must be renewed including: the re-examination of the diagnostic criteria used a restatement of the taxonomic meaning of the species-rich lineages endemic to ancient lakes, the increased cooperation between neontologists and palaeontologists to produce common-based taxonomic criteria, the addition of new sources of taxonomic information (morphometric, molecular, etc.) and the adoption of ideas and/or methods specific to phylogenetic systematics.
- Subjects
CANDONIDAE; FOSSIL ostracoda; BIODIVERSITY; BIOLOGICAL classification; CLADISTIC analysis
- Publication
GeoEcoMarina, 2011, Vol 17, p195
- ISSN
1224-6808
- Publication type
Article