摘要:

SummaryThe study of organic diversity poses problems of inventory taking, of origins, and of selective (adaptive) significance. Increasing diversity during evolutionary history has resulted in the origin of spectacular adaptive innovations and the invasion of new adaptive zones. Important new concepts, such as population thinking, were developed by the students of diversity.

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.2307/1218081

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.1002/j.1996-8175.1974.tb04006.x

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryThe possible bridges between evolutionary studies at the subspecific and transspecific levels are numerous. Three kinds require particular attention. One kind, which calls for cooperation between population geneticists and paleontologists, consists of comparisons between variation patterns and ecological relationships between living and extinct populations. Favorable organisms for such comparisons, which have been exploited to some degree, are mammals, molluscs, and unicellular plankton organisms having hard shells. A second kind of bridge is based upon biochemical comparisons at various levels of the taxonomic hierarchy, particularly with reference to proteins, since these are the primary products of gene action. Such comparisons are particularly valuable as ways of estimating what kinds of mutations have most often had major evolutionary significance. When making these comparisons, protein molecules should be regarded as complex structures, more analogous to organs at the macroscopic level than to the small molecules which are studied by most chemists who are not biochemists. Only on this basis can sound inferences be made as to the adaptiveness or non‐adaptiveness of particular mutational changes. The biochemical bridge can aid in elucidating the evolution of processes of development and metabolism, but is valuable only indirectly for working out particular pathways of phylogeny, since the biochemical nature of extinct common ancestors can never be determined. Finally, comparative morphogenesis may eventually provide a number of very valuable bridges, but at present its potentialities have been very little explored.

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.2307/1218083

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.1002/j.1996-8175.1974.tb04008.x

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryExamples of problems that arise from the present lack of an efficient information service for specimen‐label data are reviewed. Deficiencies exist in the guidance given to collectors, the provision of local distribution data for environmental and other studies, and in the support given the monographers in locating Types. Basic queries such as on the fauna and flora of a particular area mostly cannot be answered directly, although the data lie close at hand. With respect to label information the museum or herbarium is a data crypt rather than a data bank. Computer‐based data‐banking offers a solution to these fundamental problems. Selected items of label data can be retrieved and sorted for output in catalogues or lists by the computer, along with tallies and distribution maps. The steps by which one may achieve this are described, together with a review of the chief kinds of computer program‐system and sources of advice. The need for careful systems analysis and international standards for recording the data is emphasised.

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.2307/1218085

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryThis survey concerns computer‐assisted storage and retrieval of the data of taxonomy and systematic biology. First, specimen data and ecological data are briefly considered. Next, taxon‐level information is discussed, with emphasis on the role of the taxonomic hierarchy in information storage and retrieval. Following that background material, some general conditions under which computer processing of taxonomic information can be of benefit are considered, and some specific criteria for comparing and evaluating taxonomic information systems are suggested. As examples of the various approaches to computer processing of taxonomic information, several recent projects are reviewed. Finally, computer‐based information networks are considered as a coming development in taxonomic data processing, to supplement but not replace traditional museum collections and publications.

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.2307/1218086

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.1002/j.1996-8175.1974.tb04011.x

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryThe state of the art in identification of biological specimens by computer is reviewed. Current methods cover construction of diagnostic keys, matching or comparison methods, and probabilistic methods related to Bayes' theorem. There are also methods for reducing the number of characters that need to be used. The methods are compared and actual and possible progress is discussed.

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.2307/1218088

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.1002/j.1996-8175.1974.tb04013.x

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryThe use of the computer to map and/or plot systematic data is examined in the areas of automatic plotting of taxa's distributions and computer graphic analysis of geographic variation and population differentiation. Automatic plotting of distributional data is discussed in reference to earlier work and present applications in conjunction with the development of the Rapid Access Plant Information Center (RAPIC) of Colorado, (USA). In the area of computer graphic analysis of geographic variation, the following techniques are discussed: contour mapping (2 and 3 dimensional); shading by overprinting; contoured factor analysis; and contoured surface trend analysis. A technique of composite overlay mapping is introduced to systematics and several applications are discussed.

ISSN:0040-0262    

DOI:10.2307/1218090

出版商:Wiley    

年代:2019

数据来源: WILEY