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Systematics and paleobiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Niles Eldredge  and
Michael J. Novacek
Niles Eldredge
Affiliation:
Departments of Invertebrates and Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, New York 10024
Michael J. Novacek
Affiliation:
Departments of Invertebrates and Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, New York 10024
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Abstract

Systematics, ostensibly the “old” paleontology, actually plays a central and crucial role in modern paleobiology. We argue that a revised ontology has recently clarified the nature of species and has expressly added monophyletic groups to the roster of spatiotemporally bounded entities—“individuals”—that are now seen as participants in the evolutionary process. Systematics is the study of species and monophyletic taxa, and fossils alone provide the data on the temporal boundedness of such taxa.

Cladistics (phylogenetic systematics) is explicitly geared to the recognition of monophyletic taxa. We review aspects of the core problem of character analysis in systematics, particularly addressing the still contended issue of the seemingly competitive claims of three methodologies: out-group comparison, comparative ontogeny, and the “paleontological method.” We find that these methods overlap in their basic assumptions to a significant extent, yet each retains a characteristic and distinctive flavor. They are not all “the same,” nor are they always “complementary”—and no one method is superior to the others in all circumstances.

Far from being the Victorian symbol of a moribund science, systematics lies at the very heart of modern paleobiological research, providing the central data for paleobiology's truly unique contribution, both real and potential, to evolutionary biology in general.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , Winter 1985 , pp. 65 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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