Phylogeny & the Nature of the Fossil Record

Table of Contents

• Critique: Exploring "Explore Evolution"
  • Preface
    • Educational policy and terminology
      • Santorum Amendment and UK National Curriculum
      • Inquiry-based learning
      • References
    • Scientific controversy vs. social controversy
      • "Controversy" over evolution
      • Evolution, climate change, plate tectonics, and string theory
      • "Key aspects" of evolution
      • References
  • Introduction
    • Evolution
      • Meanings of "evolution"
      • Evolutionary mechanisms
      • Universal Common Descent
      • "Fundamentally new" organisms
      • References
    • Nature of Science
      • "Historical science" vs. "experimental science"
      • Evaluating the quality of a scientific explanation
      • References
  • Fossil Succession
    • Other Errors in Chapter 3
      • Time Represented in Outcrops
      • Geologic "Closeness"
      • The Three Domains
      • Weasel Words
    • Phylogeny & the Nature of the Fossil Record
      • Stability of Phyla
      • Sudden taxonomic levels
      • Fossil Preservation
      • Absence of Fossil Evidence
      • Punctuated Equilibrium
    • Polyphyletic vs. Monophyletic
      • Do scientists support polyphyletism?
        • Evidence for Single Origin of Life
        • Nature of Scientific Disagreement
    • Malcolm Gordon
    • The Cambrian Radiation
      • Sudden Appearance?
        • The Cambrian Radiation in the Geologic Record
        • Creationist Statistics
    • Soft-bodied fossils
    • Cal Academy of Sciences display
    • Transitional Fossils
      • Transitional Fossils Are Not Rare
      • Do animal forms change or stay the same?
      • Darwin on Transitional Fossils
      • The Sequence of Transitional Fossils
      • Whale Evolution
      • The Sizes of Transitional Fossils
  • Anatomical Homology
    • Misquoting
      • Brian Goodwin
      • David Wake
    • Development
      • Primer
      • Homology via different genes or developmental pathways
      • Non-homology via homologous genes
    • Convergence
      • Common function vs. common ancestry
      • Vertebrate limbs
      • Similarity of shape vs. similarity of form
      • Convergence vs. natural selection
      • Convergence and common descent
    • Defining "homology"
      • Homology and similarity
      • Homologous structures, genes, and developmental pathways
      • Circular definitions
  • Molecular Homology
    • Molecular Clocks
      • Environmental Influences
      • Molecular Clock Rates
    • A Universal Tree of Life
      • Do Different Genes Mean Different Phylogenetic Trees?
      • Phylogenetic Trees and Molecular Family Histories
      • The Last Universal Common Ancestor
      • Malcolm Gordon
    • References
    • Evolving Codes and Novel Genes
      • The Genetic Code
      • ORFans
  • Embryology
    • References
    • Philosophy
      • Evolutionary Predictions of Common Ancestry
      • Students as Jurors
    • History of Embryology
      • Darwin on Dissimilarities
      • Ontogeny & Phylogeny
      • Haeckel's Drawings
      • Accuracy in embryo illustrations
      • The Earliest Stages
      • Sedgwick's Two Challenges
      • Michael Richardson's photographs
  • Biogeography
    • Evolution on Islands
      • The Breadth of Biogeography
      • Island Diversity
      • Marsupials
      • "Lost" Genetic Information
    • Fixity of species and common descent
      • Fixity of Species
      • Biogeographic predictability
      • Doubting Common Ancestry
  • Natural Selection
    • Extrapolation
      • Exrapolating microevolution to macroevolution
      • Limits on Evolution
      • Oscillations
    • Experiments
      • Biology Texts
      • Modern Galapagos Finches
      • Peppered Moths
      • Kettlewell's Experiments
      • Where Peppered Moths Rest
    • Artificial and Natural Selection
      • Artificial vs. Natural Selection
      • Horses and Dogs
  • Natural Selection & Mutation
    • Morphology
      • The Four-Winged Fly
      • Survival
      • "Hopeful Monsters"
      • Hox & Development
      • Modularity in Hox genes
      • Body Plans
      • Mutations & New Body Plans
      • Developmental Controls
      • Bacterial speciation
    • DNA
      • Information
      • Other sources
      • DNA and CD players
      • "Genomic equivalence"
    • Mutations
      • Mutation Definition
      • Protein Coding
      • Normal Protein
      • Mutation Accumulation
      • Compensatory Mutations
      • Pre-Existing Resistance
      • Protein Changes
  • Molecular "Machines"
    • Claim about protein synthesis
    • Claims about "cooption"
    • Claims about evolution of flagella
    • Claims about complexity of cells
  • Natural Selection / Survival of the Fittest
    • Tautology
  • What Fossils Tell Us
    • Transitional Forms
      • Intermediates between modern forms
      • Fossils of live birth
      • Mammal eggs and reptile placentas
    • Lungs
      • Parabronchi
      • Bird diaphragms
      • Dinosaur diaphragms
    • Hearts
      • Mammalian hearts
      • Crocodilian Hearts
  • Dissent in Science
    • Nature of Science
      • Is this how science works?
    • References
    • Disagreement
    • Debates
    • Expert Witnesses
    • Misquoting
    • Creationism Versus Science
    • Malcolm Gordon
  • Critique Summary