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RE: what is phylogeny...
Jerry and others, a simple way to think of
phylogeny is like a family tree with species (or whatever). So, the trunk
of the tree might be say some idealized Apisto. Lets call him Apistogramma
idealoso for arguements sake. Then, some branches of the tree would be say
the agassizii-complex, another maybe the nijsseni complex, and then the smaller branches A. agassizii, A.
elizabethae etc. Then, the little twigs would be even more specific -- A.
agassizii 'Rio Tefe' etc... Does that make sense?
In evolutionary
biology, one of the current trends is to use high-throughput sequencing to map
out a critters genome, or a part thereof, and then use software to statistically
compare the results with say a whole species complex distributed over different
geographic areas and come up with these "phylogenic" maps. That was one of
the things I worked on in school with good 'ol convict cichlids as the
critter! Very interesting stuff, and not particularly
controversial!!
-Tony
Whose glad to add excitement to the list in his
first week! :-)
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