TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Taxonomy Red in Tooth and Claw - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0001
[biodiversity, conservation biology, Linnaean classification system]
This chapter begins by discussing the concept of biodiversity, which comes to us from conservation biology. It suggests that biodiversity might not be a single natural property or quantity: that biological systems are biodiverse in more ways than one. The chapter then discusses the general problem of classification systems in biology, taking as an example the Linnaean classification system—the system that begins by classifying species into genera, that is, into sets of closely related and similar species. This is followed by a consideration of diversity as cause and as effect. (pages 1 - 26)
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1.1 Biodiversity and “Biodiversity”
1.2 Biodiversity and Biodiversities
1.3 History and Taxonomy
1.4 Diversity as Cause; Diversity as Eff ect
1.5 Prospectus: The Road Ahead
Species: A Modest Proposal - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0002
[biodiversity, species concepts, evolutionary theory, species richness]
This chapter begins by noting two striking facts. First, in practice, most explicit attempts to estimate biodiversity are attempts to estimate species richness. Second, evolutionary theory has been home to a long and continuing debate about the nature of species, a debate that has resulted in a profusion of species concepts. The chapter then confronts the diversity of species concepts more seriously. That diversity flows in part from the profound biological differences between the different branches of the tree of life, and in turn those differences suggest that we have little chance of formulating a one-size-fits-all criterion that would allow us to recognize species across the different branches and thus enable us to measure the overall species richness of a region. One way of responding to the diversity of species concepts, then, is to conclude that the prospects for a species-richness based account of biodiversity are grim both practically and theoretically. It is argued that this is a much-too-pessimistic assessment of species-richness-based accounts of biodiversity. (pages 27 - 41)
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2.1 Introduction
2.2 Species, Species Concepts, and Speciation
2.3 The Eff ect of Speciation
2.4 Species and Biodiversity
Disparity and Diversity - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0003
[biodiversity, species number, phenotypic richness, Stephen Jay Gould, Cambrian]
This chapter, which considers the idea that tracking species number does not track a second important dimension of biodiversity—phenotypic richness—focuses on the claim that diversity (species number) does not track disparity (variation across phenotypes). A biota can be species rich but not very disparate, if the species composing the biota are rather similar. Arguably, many island faunas are more diverse than disparate, for they often derive from a few founder species, and this constrains the variation that evolves. Stephen Jay Gould made this diversity–disparity distinction famous in his 1989 classic Wonderful Life, and it has generated ongoing controversy. The chapter develops his take on the Cambrian and its significance in more detail; explains the importance of the issues he raises; and outlines some of the challenges to his view. It also sketches recent developments in understanding the Cambrian, and their implications for the Gouldian picture. (pages 42 - 59)
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3.1 The Cone of Increasing Controversy
3.2 How Disparate Was the Cambrian Fauna?
3.3 Fossils in a Molecular World
Morphology and Morphological Diversity - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0004
[biodiversity, disparity, species richness, speciation, phenotypic diversity]
Chapter 3 showed that it is difficult to make the notion of disparity empirically and theoretically tractable. A central theme of this chapter is that, while species richness does not determine morphological disparity, disparity is conceptually tied to diversity. Patterns in speciation anchor the features of phenotypes we can meaningfully measure and compare. The chapter considers attempts to put spatial representations of morphological diversity to real empirical work, explains why this (still-young) tradition is impressive, and discusses the limits on these representations of phenotypic diversity. (pages 60 - 83)
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4.1 Introduction
4.3 Biological Possibility Spaces
4.4 The Power of Morphospaces
4.5 Here There Be No Dragons: The Limits of Theoretical Morphology
4.6 Morphological Biodiversity
Development and Diversity - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0005
[hidden biodiversity, developmental modularity, developmental resources, evolutionary plasticity]
This chapter considers hidden biodiversity. Variation between both populations and individuals can be morphologically invisible. Two populations can be phenotypically similar yet vary in their genetic resources or in the distribution of those resources. Two individuals can be phenotypically similar, yet differ in their developmental biology. The lineages that those individuals represent might therefore have very different fates or potentials. The chapter sketches the range of developmental resources (and hence differences in those resources) that contribute to evolutionary plasticity. It then illustrates these issues by discussing a salient case in more detail, namely developmental modularity, currently the hottest of hot topics in evolutionary developmental biology. (pages 84 - 105)
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5.1 Diversity, Disparity, Plasticity
5.2 The Variety of Developmental Resources
5.3 From Gene Regulation to Modularity
5.4 Modularity in Development and Evolution
5.5 Developmental Biodiversity
Explorations in Ecospace - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0006
[ecological communities, ecological systems, ecosystem, structured systems]
This chapter focuses on local ecological communities, and on whether local communities are structured, organized systems; that is, systems whose organization has important effects on the identity and abundance of the local biota. In analyzing the idea that communities are indeed structured systems, it considers the claim that communities control their own membership and the claim that they have biologically important collective properties. If these ideas are vindicated, we do need more than species information. We need information about organization and variation in that organization from community to community. In the chapter's “units-and-differences” framework, it asks whether local ecological communities are themselves units, and, if so, what are the relevant similarities and differences among them. (pages 106 - 131)
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6.1 Ecological Systems
6.2 Communities, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Functions
6.3 Individualism and Community Regulation
6.4 The Emergent Property Hypothesis
6.5 Boundaries
6.6 The Space of Population Assemblages
Conservation Biology: The Measurement Problem - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0007
[measurement, conservation biology, biodiversity surrogates]
This chapter focuses on measurement issues in conservation biology. It begins the investigation of the place of biodiversity in conservation biology with a description of its use in current science, identifying the phenomena scientists actually measure when making judgments about diversity, and the phenomena they would measure if unconstrained by considerations of cost and effort. The chapter then considers the problem of biodiversity surrogates. The strategy of using surrogates to detect biodiversity is the strategy of devising biological thermometers, of identifying properties of biological systems that are reliable indicators of biodiversity properties. This strategy is almost universal in conservation biology, and many surrogates have been proposed. If conservation biologists are getting it right, these surrogates are reliable indicators of important characteristics of biological systems. It is shown that there is a good deal of ambiguity about the status of these measured variables. Sometimes they are interpreted as signs of biodiversity, but not themselves as actual components of biodiversity. (pages 132 - 148)
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7.1 Introduction
7.2 Counting Taxa
7.3 Measuring Phylogenetic Diversity
7.4 Measuring Genetic Diversity
7.5 Biodiversity Surrogates
Conservation Biology: The Evaluation Problem - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0008
[environmental ethics, conservation biology, demand value, option value]
There is an important link between environmental ethics and conservation biology. Ideally, the former tells us what to conserve and the latter tells us how to conserve it. This book is about science, not ethics, and ethical issues are addressed only to the extent that they make a difference to scientific theory and methodology. In practice, this allows us to set aside a large portion of environmental ethics, because much of this is irrelevant to our purposes. This chapter first addresses the question of whether biodiversity is intrinsically valuable, and then discusses demand value, the option value option, and the conservation consequences of option value models. (pages 149 - 171)
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8.1 Value
8.2 Is Biodiversity Intrinsically Valuable?
8.3 Demand Value
8.4 The Option Value Option
8.5 Applying Option Value: Case 1, Phylogeny
8.6 Applying Option Value: Case 2, Bioprospecting
8.7 Applying Option Value: Case 3, Ecological Option Value
8.8 The Conservation Consequences of Option Value Models
Concluding Remarks - Maclaurin James, Sterelny Kim
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226500829.003.0009
[biodiversity, species richness, conservation, species identity, biological systems]
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts based on the preceding discussions. It argues that species richness is a core concept because (i) it is (relatively) theoretically precise; (ii) it is (relatively) easy to measure; and (iii) it is (relatively) uncontroversial that the species richness, and species identity, of biological systems are important to the dynamics of those systems. The chapter then discusses the importance of the conservation of species. (pages 172 - 178)
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9.1 Introduction: The Temptations of a Unifi ed Measure
9.2 The Variety of Diversities
9.3 Should We Conserve Species?
Notes
References
Index
