Presenting a historical analysis of the evolution of systematics during the last one hundred years, Milestones in Systematics reviews many of the major issues in systematic theory and practice that have driven the working methods of systematics during the 20th century and looks at the issues most likely to preoccupy systematists in the immediate future.
The book highlights:
The development of evolutionary, phenetic and cladistic methods of phylogenetic analysis and the associated computer algorithms
The changing influence of paleontological techniques
The impact of new molecular...

The recent revolution in molecular biology has spread through every field of biology including systematics and evolution. Researchers can now analyze the genomes of different species relatively quickly, and this is generating a great deal of data and theories about relationships between taxa as well as how they originated and diversified.

Organelles, Genomes and Eukaryote Phylogeny covers recent developments in the field of "deep level" phylogenetic inference of eukaryotes, especially with respect to the origin and evolution of eukaryotic cells and their organelles. It focuses on...

< P> Computing and database management has shifted from cottage industry-style methods - the small independent researcher keeping records for a particular project - to state-of-the-art file storage systems, presentation, and distribution over the Internet. New and emerging techniques for recognition, compilation, and data management have made managing data a discipline in its own right. Covering all aspects of this data management, Biodiversity Databases: Techniques, Politics, and Applications brings together input from social scientists, programmers, database designers, and information...

Systematists, comparative biologists, taxonomists and evolutionary biologists all concern themselves with the evolutionary relationships between animals and plants. Homology is the principle underlying these disciplines. When looking at groups of organisms, similarities between them (homologies) suggest a close common ancestor. For example, human and porcine insulin is very similar in structure (porcine insulin was once used to treat human diabetics). However, there are usually characteristics which would oppose such theories. For example: totally different foetal development, and the...

More often than not, when people think of a neotropical forest, what comes to mind is a rain forest, rather than a dry forest. Just as typically, when they imagine a savanna, they visualize the African plains, rather than those dry woodlands and grasslands found in the Neotropics. These same preconceptions can be found among scientists, as these neotropical biomes receive nowhere near the attention they should - in terms of both research and conservation -considering the amount of land they encompass and the diversity of vegetation they contain.
Neotropical Savannas and Dry Forests: Plant...

Hampered by a confusing plethora of approaches and methods, biogeography is often treated as an adjunct to other areas of study. The first book to fully define this rapidly emerging subdiscipline, Biogeography in a Changing World elucidates the principles of biogeography and paves the way for its evolution into a stand-alone field.

Drawing on contributions from leading proponents of differing methods within biogeography, the book clearly defines the differing, sometimes conflicting, perspectives in the field and their correspondingly different methodological approaches. This gives...

The automated identification of biological objects or groups has been a dream among taxonomists and systematists for centuries. However, progress in designing and implementing practical systems for fully automated taxon identification has been frustratingly slow. Regardless, the dream has never died. Recent developments in computer architectures and innovations in software design have placed the tools needed to realize this vision in the hands of the systematics community, not several years hence, but now. And not just for DNA barcodes or other molecular data, but for digital images of...

This text discusses the diversity and evolution of plants, taking a molecular approach. It looks at population genetics, phylogeny (history of evolution) and developmental genetics, to provide a framework from which to understand evolutionary patterns and relationships amongst plants. The international (Europe and USA) panel of contributors are all respected systematists and evolutionary biologists, who have brought together a wide range of topics from the forefront of research whilst keeping the text accessible to students. It has been written for senior undergraduates, postgraduates and...

The arthropods contain more species than any other animal group, but the evolutionary pathways which led to their current diversity are still an issue of controversy. Arthropod Relationships provides an overview of our current understanding, responding to the new data arising from sequencing DNA, the discovery of new Cambrian fossils as direct evidence of early arthropod history, and developmental genetics. These new areas of research have stimulated a reconsideration of classical morphology and embryology. Arthropod Relationships is the first synthesis of the...

In an age when biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate, it is vital that floristic and faunistic information is up to date, reliable and easily accessible for the formulation of effective conservation strategies. Electronic data management and communication are transforming descriptive taxonomy radically, enhancing both the collection and dissemination of crucial data on biodiversity. This volume is written by scientists at the forefront of current developments of floras and faunas, along with specialists from applied user groups. The chapters review novel methods of research,...