Conceptual and Methodological Aspects of the Study of Evolutionary Rates, with some Comments on Bradytely in Birds

摘要: The analysis of evolutionary rates has received scant attention within ornithology. primary reason would seem to be the nature avian fossil record: If an understanding depends upon having a time dimension, which most paleontologists believe can only extracted from data, how we hope study using notoriously poor record birds? No one deny that is less complete than other vertebrates or many groups non vertebrates, yet this cannot entire story, for there are easily over thousand paleospecies birds known, some provide information about rates. Another contributing factor, probably, our relatively knowledge phylogenetic relationships. All assessments rates, whether absolute relative, depend hypothesis relationships taxa being studied.