Geological Hierarchies and Biogeographic Congruence in the Caribbean
Geological Hierarchies and Biogeographic Congruence in the Caribbean
- Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 72, p.636-659, 1985 .
If it is agreed that an understanding of biohistory in some ways is tied to an understanding of geohistory, then one might also agree that what is needed is a precise means of specifying how a given biohistory is explicitly tied to a particular geohistory. The constraint in this type of analysis is the branching diagram, or cladogram, that permits a precise comparison of geographic area cladograms to demonstrate congruence between the cladistic message from biology with the cladistic message from geology. A proposal for identifying these cladistic constraints is given using a comparison of several different historical geologies of the Caribbean region as an example that contrasts with the constraints used by previous biogeographies in which an a priori notion of process, e.g., dispersal or extinction, was used to direct the outcome of biogeographic analysis.
HIERARCHIES
BIOGEOGRAPHIC CONGRUENCE
CARIBBEAN
If it is agreed that an understanding of biohistory in some ways is tied to an understanding of geohistory, then one might also agree that what is needed is a precise means of specifying how a given biohistory is explicitly tied to a particular geohistory. The constraint in this type of analysis is the branching diagram, or cladogram, that permits a precise comparison of geographic area cladograms to demonstrate congruence between the cladistic message from biology with the cladistic message from geology. A proposal for identifying these cladistic constraints is given using a comparison of several different historical geologies of the Caribbean region as an example that contrasts with the constraints used by previous biogeographies in which an a priori notion of process, e.g., dispersal or extinction, was used to direct the outcome of biogeographic analysis.
HIERARCHIES
BIOGEOGRAPHIC CONGRUENCE
CARIBBEAN