Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The concept of the adaptive landscape
- 2 Modelling natural selection in adaptive landscapes
- 3 Modelling evolutionary phenomena in adaptive landscapes
- 4 The concept of the theoretical morphospace
- 5 Analysing the role of adaptive evolution in theoretical morphospaces
- 6 Analysing evolutionary phenomena in theoretical morphospaces
- 7 Evolutionary constraint in theoretical morphospace
- 8 Evolutionary development in theoretical morphospace
- 9 There is much to be done …
- References
- Index
5 - Analysing the role of adaptive evolution in theoretical morphospaces
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The concept of the adaptive landscape
- 2 Modelling natural selection in adaptive landscapes
- 3 Modelling evolutionary phenomena in adaptive landscapes
- 4 The concept of the theoretical morphospace
- 5 Analysing the role of adaptive evolution in theoretical morphospaces
- 6 Analysing evolutionary phenomena in theoretical morphospaces
- 7 Evolutionary constraint in theoretical morphospace
- 8 Evolutionary development in theoretical morphospace
- 9 There is much to be done …
- References
- Index
Summary
In studying the functional significance of the coiled shell, it is important to be able to analyze the types that do not occur in nature as well as those represented by actual species. Both digital and analog computers are useful in constructing accurate pictures of the types that do not occur.
Raup and Michelson (1965, p. 1294)Functional analysis in theoretical morphospace
We saw in the last chapter that the five steps of a theoretical morphospace analysis (Fig. 4.3) can be summarized in three conceptual phases: the creation of a morphospace, the exploration of a morphospace, and the analysis of evolution within a morphospace. The analysis of evolution within a morphospace involves the functional analysis of the spectrum of both existent and nonexistent form within the morphospace, a spectrum that has been revealed in the first two phases of the analysis. The goal of functional analyses is to determine whether the observed distribution of form within the morphospace is indeed of adaptive significance, and it is in this phase of the analysis that the concepts of the adaptive landscape and the theoretical morphospace begin to converge.
In Chapter 4 we examined the process involved in creating a theoretical morphospace of hypothetical ammonoid morphologies, and the plotting of species of actual ammonoids within that morphospace, from the early work of Dave Raup, the founder of theoretical morphology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Geometry of EvolutionAdaptive Landscapes and Theoretical Morphospaces, pp. 71 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006