Students of mathematical biology discover modern methods of taxonomy with this text, which introduces taxonomic characters, the measurement of similarity, and the analysis of principal components. Other topics include multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, identification and assignment techniques, more. A familiarity with matrix algebra and elementary statistics are the sole prerequisites.
The NATO Advanced Study Institute on Numerical Taxonomy took place on the 4th - 16th of July, 1982, at the Kur- und Kongresshotel Residenz in Bad Windsheim, Federal Republic of Germany. This volume is the proceedings of that meeting, and contains papers by over two-thirds of the participants in the Institute. Numerical taxonomy has been attracting increased attention from systematists and evolutionary biologists. It is an area which has been marked by debate and conflict, sometimes bitter. Happily, this meeting took place in an atmosphere of "GemUtlichkeit", though scarcely of unanimity. I believe that these papers will show that there is an increased understanding by each taxonomic school of each others' positions. This augurs a period in which the debates become more concrete and specific. Let us hope that they take place in a scientific atmosphere which has occasionally been lacking in the past. Since the order of presentation of papers in the meeting was affected by time constraints, I have taken the liberty of rearranging them into a more coherent subject ordering. The first group of papers, taken from the opening and closing days of the meeting, debate philosophies of classification. The next two sections have papers on congruence, clustering and ordination. A notable concern of these participants is the comparison and testing of classifications. This has been missing from many previous discussions of numerical classification.
This second edition of Modern Bacterial Taxonomy has been completely revised and expanded to include detailed coverage of molecular systematics including relevant aspects of nucleic acid sequences, the construction of phylogenetic trees, typing of bacteria by restriction fragment length polymorphisms, DNA hybridization probes and the use of the polymerase chain reaction in bacterial systematics.
This is an examination of the relationship between classification and evolutionary theory, with reference to the competing schools of taxonomic thinking. Emphasis is placed on one of these schools, the transformed cladists who have attempted to reject all evolutionary thinking in classification and to cast doubt on evolution in general. The author examines the limits to this line of thought from a philosophical and methodological perspective. He concludes that transformed cladistics does not achieve what it claims and that it either implicitly assumes a Platonic World View, or is unintelligible without taking into account evolutionary processes--the very processes it claims to reject. Through this analysis the author attempts to formulate criteria of an objective and consistent nature that can be used to judge competing methodologies and theories. Philosophers of science, zoologists interested in taxonomy, and evolutionary biologists will find this a compelling study.
The field of plant taxonomy has transformed rapidly over the past fifteen years, especially with regard to improvements in cladistic analysis and the use of new molecular data. The second edition of this popular resource reflects these far-reaching and dramatic developments with more than 3,000 new references and many new figures. Synthesizing current research and trends, Plant Taxonomy now provides the most up-to-date overview in relation to monographic, biodiversity, and evolutionary studies, and continues to be an essential resource for students and scholars. This text is divided into two parts: Part 1 explains the principles of taxonomy, including the importance of systematics, characters, concepts of categories, and different approaches to biological classification. Part 2 outlines the different types of data used in plant taxonomic studies with suggestions on their efficacy and modes of presentation and evaluation. This section also lists the equipment and financial resources required for gathering each type of data. References throughout the book illuminate the historical development of taxonomic terminology and philosophy while citations offer further study. Plant Taxonomy is also a personal story of what it means to be a practicing taxonomist and to view these activities within a meaningful conceptual framework. Tod F. Stuessy recalls the progression of his own work and shares his belief that the most creative taxonomy is done by those who have a strong conceptual grasp of their own research.
Classifying objects according to their likeness seems to have been a step in the human process of acquiring knowledge, and it is certainly a basic part of many of the sciences. Historically, the scientific process has involved classification and organization particularly in sciences such as botany, geology, astronomy, and linguistics. In a modern context, we may view classification as deriving a hierarchical clustering of objects. Thus, classification is close to factorial analysis methods and to multi-dimensional scaling methods. It provides a mathematical underpinning to the analysis of dissimilarities between objects.
How do we group different subjects on a variety of variables? Should we use a classification procedure in which only the concepts are classified (typology), one in which only empirical entities are classified (taxonomy), or some combination of both? In this clearly written book, Bailey addresses these questions and shows how classification methods can be used to improve research. Beginning with an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of classification procedures including those typologies that can be constructed without the use of a computer, the book covers such topics as clustering procedures (including agglomerative and divisive methods), the relationship among various classification techniques (including the relationship of monothetic, qualitative typologies to polythetic, quantitative taxonomies), a comparison of clustering methods and how these methods compare with related statistical techniques such as factor analysis, multidimensional scaling and systems analysis, and lists classification resources. This volume also discusses software packages for use in clustering techniques.
Taxonomy is an ever-changing, controversial and exCitmg field of biology. It has not remained motionless since the days of its founding fathers in the last century, but, just as with other fields of endeavour, it continues to advance in leaps and bounds, both in procedure and in philosophy. These changes are not only of interest to other taxonomists, but have far reaching implications for much of the rest of biology, and they have the potential to reshape a great deal of current biological thought, because taxonomy underpins much of biological methodology. It is not only important that an ethologist. physiologist. biochemist or ecologist can obtain information about the identities of the species which they are investigating; biology is also uniquely dependent on the comparative method and on the need to generalize. Both of these necessitate knowledge of the evolutionary relationships between organisms. and it is the science of taxonomy that can develop testable phylogenetic hypotheses and ultimately provide the best estimates of evolutionary history and relationships.
