A New Paradigm for the Conquest of Land by Vertebrates That Includes Exaptations

About this book

Language: English

A new view for studying and understanding biological evolution emerges when the concepts of phylogenetic systematics and exaptation are combined. Exaptation is the co-option of existing traits in the process of evolution, repurposing them for different functions, rather than developing traits from scratch. A new definition of macroevolution is created. A classic example is bird feathers that likely initially evolved for insulation but later proved useful for flight. This process could offer an explanation for seemingly large, macro-evolutionary changes in the history of life. Preadaptation is shown to be a null concept and its comparison with exaptation is shown to be inappropriate. This book criticizes the prevailing view, the adaptationist, microevolutionary outlook, which considers adaptation as being the exclusive or main evolutionary process responsible for vertebrates having occupied the terrestrial environment. The authors argue that macroevolutionary processes are significantly more important to explain an improbable evolutionary event. Their research shows that macroevolutionary processes are the dominant factors involved in the origin of terrestriality.

This book is a revised and expanded English translation from the original Portuguese edition Peixes Conquistam a Terra Firme: Nova Abordagem para um Evento Acidental Único (Editora Baraúna, 2017).

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Notes for Reading This book

1. Phylogenetic Systematics or Cladistics, Introductory Information
2. Adaptive Scenarios
3. Adaptationism, Microevolution, Macroevolution, and Exaptation
4. Monophyly and Geological Time as Counter-arguments to the Adaptationist View of the Origin of Terrestrial Vertebrates
5. Method Based on Cladistics: New Perspectives
6. Geological Time, Morphology, and Ecology
7. Absence of Correlation among Characters and Asynchrony in Their Origins as Additional Arguments
8. Synergy among Arguments and Summary Considerations of the Main Arguments
9. Exaptations, Not Preadaptations, at the Origin of Terrestriality in Vertebrates
10. Science and Its Limits

Glossary
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Mauro Luís Triques, PhD (1994), is an Associate Professor at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He has published 27 scientific papers, mainly on Neotropical freshwater-fish systematics, including phylogenies. Currently, he focuses his work on the theory of biological evolution, strengthening a pluralistic outlook. Recently, he authored the popular science book Exaptacao! Uma Via Paralela da Evolucao Biologica (sgdz, 2021).

Martin Lindsey Christoffersen, PhD (1980), is a Full Professor at Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil. He has published over 300 scientific papers (articles, book chapters, and books), focusing on macroevolutionary theory, invertebrate systematics, metazoan phylogeny, philosophy of science, science education, and biodiversity.