Cladistics: A Practical Course in Systematics (The ^ASystematics Association Special Volume) - Softcover

Forey, Peter L.; Humphries, Christopher J.; Kitching, Ian J.; Scotland, Robert W.; Siebert, Darrell J.; Williams, David M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198577664 ISBN 13: 9780198577669

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Cladistics is the method of choice for systematic classification and comparative studies in all fields of biology. In cladistics, reconstructed genealogies are based on common ancestry rather than on simple anatomical similarity and therefore effectively reveal true phylogenetic relationships. Now available in paperback, this excellent introduction to cladistics is based on the popular training course originally offered by the Systematics Association. The book surveys a wide range of topics, including the principle of parsimony, character coding and cladistic tree-building methods, tree statistics, and methods for determining character polarity. Alternatives to parsimony, molecular applications of cladistics, and the relevance of fossils are also discussed in detail. Concluding chapters review two critical topics of contemporary concern: cladistic biogeography and the implementation of cladistic results in systematics. In providing a readable, up-to-date account of modern cladistics techniques, the book will prove invaluable to all students and professionals interested in systematics and comparative studies.

About this title

About the Author

Peter L. Forey, Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Musem, London. Christopher J. Humphries, Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, London. Ian J. Kitching, Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, London.

Review

'All six authors contributed to what, if the book is anything to go by, must have been a very stimulating and rewarding, meeting. This book makes a valiant and largely successful attempt to introduce cladistics to the non-specialist. All chapters are well written and are copiously illustrated
with simple diagrams that make the required point(s) without any unnecessary embroidery. To anyone using or thinking of using cladistic analysis this is an absolutely first-rate primer and can be recommended without reservation.'
Peter G. Waterman, Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, Number 6/7. September/October 1993

'An efficient tool ... precisely because this book is neither a manual of initiation nor a comprehensive textbook of systematics, its efficiency is maximal for what it claims to be: a practical manual in cladistics, which will be useful to every systematician.'
Simon Tiller, Acta Oecolopica, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1993

'this book provides an interesting contribution to the discussion'
Ethology, Ecology and Evolution 6: 1994

'I consider the present book a valuable ... review of current cladistics, which should be recommended to all biologists who are interested in systematics.'
Jan Zrzavy, Folia Mytotaxonomica

`Indeed, the book greatly benefits from being composed of contributions by practising cladists, who tell their public in a no-nonsense manner what to do, how to act, which procedures are available and how they could make a choice from the possibilities offered. A highly recommended book for
all those who wish to do taxonomic work by the end of the 20th century!'
J.C. von Vaupel Klein, Crustaceana 68 (6) 1995

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0198577664
• ISBN 13: 9780198577669
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208