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In the Light of Evolution Volume II: Biodiversity and Extinction (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Part IV: Prospects for the Future
Pages 243-246

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From page 243...
... In Chapter 13, Michael Donoghue challenges this paradigm by reviewing several cases in which higher plant taxa have retained, for long periods of evolutionary time, particular traits that impact their geographic distributions. Donoghue calls this phenomenon "phylogenetic niche conservatism." His basic idea is that the geography of biodiversity at any horizon in time reflects an interaction between phylogenetic legacy (as registered in the evolved ecological characteristics of particular lineages)
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From page 244...
... The molecular revolution in evolutionary biology has provided powerful tools for biodiversity assessments ranging from species identifications and phylogeny reconstructions to genetic dissections of ontogeny. Projecting forward, in Chapter 15 John Avise describes three opportunities for the field of biodiversity genetics that seem not to have been widely appreciated or discussed: use information from the emerging phylogenetic Tree of Life to erect the first-ever universally standardized scheme of biological classification; identify biogeographic hotspots and centers of origin (including those tracing to the late Tertiary)
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From page 245...
... The authors issue a pluralistic call for action on seven fronts: combat the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss (notably human population growth, overconsumption, and the use of malign technologies) ; promote permanent nature reserves; provide social and economic incentives to preserve wild populations; better align economies with conservation; restore biodiversity on currently degraded lands; vest human occupants of a region with the desire and capacity to protect nature; and, in general, fundamentally transform human attitudes toward nature and biodiversity.
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Key Terms

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  • evolutionary biology
  • using orange
  • particular traits
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  • biodiversity crisis
  • promote permanent
  • authors issue
  • malign technologies
  • phylogenetic legacy

  • alternative criteria
  • time reflects
  • restore biodiversity
  • nature reserves
  • human population

  • rently degraded
  • contemporary ecological
  • assessing geographic
  • billion people
  • cies identifications


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