Notebook
Bryozoan basics
November 7, 2016Bryozoans are a phylum of colonial animals. They first appear in the fossil record during the early Ordovician (~480 million years ago.) Since that time, bryozoans have been a major component of the fossil record and of marine communities. Their colonies are modular, with individual animals, called zooids, forming the...
Add a timescale in base R graphics
April 12, 2015Timescales on figures are helpful It is a good idea to add geological timescales to plots that show patterns over the Phanerozic. Timescales help the reader orient themselves with the new and interesting data that we want to show them. They can see more detail and with this orientation it...
Expansion and the hierarchical structure of levels of selection
September 21, 2013Evolutionary success comes to the selfish—or so most biologists are taught. Those organisms that reproduce most will of course be better represented in future generations. Current theory has had great success using this fact to understand much of evolution, but it hits a wall when it comes to understanding how...