Historical origins of the East Indies marine biodiversity centre
Subtitle: a preliminary phylogenetic biogeographical assessment.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 93
Description: A phylogenetic biogeographical study of the East Indies Triangle, the area of the highest marine biodiversity in the world, is performed using the Phylogenetic Analysis for Comparing Trees method, or PACT, with a database of phylogenies from 13 fishes, corals, and molluscs. Predictions are made of common biogeographical patterns to be expected for each of four competing hypotheses that attempt to explain the biodiversity. Very few patterns of congruence are observed amongst taxa, and data are insufficient to choose among the four hypotheses. PACT is more stable than Primary Brooks Parsimony Analysis (1&deg; BPA) when the limits of the areas of endemism used are changed. 1&deg; BPA is shown to give misleading results when used on data sets containing widespread taxa. Briggs's evidence for a centre of origin hypothesis as an explanation of East Indies Triangle diversity is shown to be lacking.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, page: 0775.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

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