Phylogenetics: Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic Systematics, 2nd Edition Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic Systematics

The long-awaited revision of the industry standard on phylogenetics

Since the publication of the first edition of this landmark volume more than twenty-five years ago, phylogenetic systematics has taken its place as the dominant paradigm of systematic biology. It has profoundly influenced the way scientists study evolution, and has seen many theoretical and technical advances as the field has continued to grow. It goes almost without saying that the next twenty-five years of phylogenetic research will prove as fascinating as the first, with many exciting developments yet to come.


This new edition of Phylogenetics captures the very essence of this rapidly evolving discipline. Written for the practicing systematist and phylogeneticist, it addresses both the philosophical and technical issues of the field, as well as surveys general practices in taxonomy. Major sections of the book deal with the nature of species and higher taxa, homology and characters, trees and tree graphs, and biogeography--the purpose being to develop biologically relevant species, character, tree, and biogeographic concepts that can be applied fruitfully to phylogenetics.


The book then turns its focus to phylogenetic trees, including an in-depth guide to tree-building algorithms. Additional coverage includes:
* Parsimony and parsimony analysis
* Parametric phylogenetics including maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches
* Phylogenetic classification
* Critiques of evolutionary taxonomy, phenetics, and transformed cladistics
* Specimen selection, field collecting, and curating
* Systematic publication and the rules of nomenclature

Providing a thorough synthesis of the field, this important update to Phylogenetics is essential for students and researchers in the areas of evolutionary biology, molecular evolution, genetics and evolutionary genetics, paleontology, physical anthropology, and zoology.

It has been over twenty-five years since the first edition of Phylogenetics. During that time phylogenetic systematics has taken its place as the dominant paradigm of systematic biology and fundamentally influenced how scientists study evolution. Moreover, during the intervening years since that first edition, there have been many theoretical and technical advances, and the field of phylogenetics has continued to grow. The great philosopher Marcus Aurelius' recognition that "time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current" holds doubly true in this area of scientific research.  For instance, there are now new approaches to reconstructing the pattern of evolution designed to take character conflict and the uncertainty of phylogenetic estimates into account. The fallout from the molecular systematics revolution is a prominent part of this.  Phylogeneticists have also moved beyond solely employing Hennig's argumentation schemes and now use more formal parsimony analysis or  parametric methods such as likelihood and Bayesian inference in an attempt to reconstruct evolutionary relationships among organisms and find a fit between Earth history and descent with modification. We have tried to capture the essence of the evolving discipline that is phylogenetics in this new edition. If current trajectories imply anything, they suggest that the next 25 years of phylogenetic research will continue to prove exciting, with many fascinating theoretical and technical developments yet to come.