Price Equation
The measurement of species selection on evolving characters
August 14, 2017Simpson, C. 2017. The measurement of species selection on evolving characters. bioRxiv. http://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/15/176438 pdf Many processes can contribute to macroevolutionary change. This fact is the source of the wide variety of macroevolutionary change across time and taxa as well as the bane of paleobiological research trying to understand how macroevolution...
The case for species selection
October 29, 2016Simpson, C. 2016. The case for species selection. bioRxiv. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/084046 pdf The mere existence of speciation and extinction make macroevolutionary processes possible. Speciation and extinction introduce discontinuities in the microevolutionary change within lineages by initiating, disrupting, and terminating the continuity of species lineages. Within a clade, speciation and extinction become...
Species selection and the macroevolution of coral photosymbiosis and coloniality
April 14, 2015Simpson, C. 2013. Species selection and the macroevolution of coral photosymbiosis and coloniality. Evolution 67(6): 1607-1621 pdf Differences in the relative diversification rates of species with variant traits are known as species selection. Species selection can produce a macroevolutionary change in the frequencies of traits by changing the relative number...
Species selection in the molecular age
April 10, 2015Simpson, C., Müller, J., 2012. Species selection in the molecular age, in From clone to bone: the synergy of morphological and molecular tools in paleobiology, Johannes Müller and Rob Asher, eds. Cambridge University Press. p. 116-134. pdf Everything biological varies. Without variation, evolution would not be possible. This is a...
How many levels are there?
April 5, 2015Simpson, C. 2011. How many levels are there? How insights from evolutionary transitions in individuality help measure the hierarchical complexity of life. In, The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited, Brett Calcott & Kim Sterelny eds. MIT Press. pdf How the vast range of spatial and temporal scales on which biological...
Species selection and driven mechanisms jointly generate a large-scale morphological trend in monobathrid crinoids
April 3, 2015Simpson, C. 2010 Species selection and driven mechanisms jointly generate a large-scale morphological trend in monobathrid crinoids. Paleobiology 36(3): 481-496. pdf Abundance is one of the primary factors believed to influence extinction yet little is known about its relationship to extinction rates over geologic time. Using data from the Paleobiology...