Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

I. the origin of species by means of natural selection

Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Pp. viii, 282. £3·50, paperback £1. 1970. (Cambridge University Press.)

Selective chemical reactions that are orthogonal to the diverse functionality of biological systems have become important tools in the field of chemical biology. Two notable examples are the Staudinger ligation of azides and phosphines and the Cu(I)-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of azides and alkynes (“click chemistry”). The Staudinger ligation has sufficient biocompatibility for performance in living animals but suffers from phosphine oxidation and synthetic challenges. Click chemistry obviates the requirement of phosphines, but the Cu(I) catalyst is toxic to cells, thereby precluding in vivo applications. Here we present a strain-promoted [3 + 2] cycloaddition between cyclooctynes and azides that proceeds under physiological conditions without the need for a catalyst. The utility of the reaction was demonstrated by selective modification of biomolecules in vitro and on living cells, with no apparent toxicity.

A Strain-Promoted [3 + 2] Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition for Covalent Modification of Biomolecules in Living Systems

The evidentiary basis of the currently accepted classification of living amphibians is discussed and shown not to warrant the degree of authority conferred on it by use and tradition. A new taxonomy of living amphibians is proposed to correct the deficiencies of the old one. This new taxonomy is based on the largest phylogenetic analysis of living Amphibia so far accomplished. We combined the comparative anatomical character evidence of Haas (2003) with DNA sequences from the mitochondrial transcription unit H1 (12S and 16S ribosomal RNA and tRNAValine genes, ≈ 2,400 bp of mitochondrial sequences) and the nuclear genes histone H3, rhodopsin, tyrosinase, and seven in absentia, and the large ribosomal subunit 28S (≈ 2,300 bp of nuclear sequences; ca. 1.8 million base pairs; x = 3.7 kb/terminal). The dataset includes 532 terminals sampled from 522 species representative of the global diversity of amphibians as well as seven of the closest living relatives of amphibians for outgroup comparisons. The...

https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-American-Museum-of-Natural-History/volume-2006/issue-297/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2/THE-AMPHIBIAN-TREE-OF-LIFE/10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2.pdf

The amphibian tree of life

We assembled a dataset of 192 carefully selected species—51 extinct and 141 extant—and 976 apomorphies distributed among 610 phenotypic characters to investigate the phylogeny of Squamata (“lizards,” including snakes and amphisbaenians). These data enabled us to infer a tree much like those derived from previous morphological analyses, but with better support for some key clades. There are also several novel elements, some of which pose striking departures from traditional ideas about lizard evolution (e.g., that mosasaurs and polyglyphanodontians are on the scleroglossan stem, rather than parts of the crown, and related to varanoids and teiids, respectively). Long-bodied, limb-reduced, “snake-like” fossorial lizards—most notably dibamids, amphisbaenians and snakes—have been and continue to be the chief source of character conflict in squamate morphological phylogenetics. Carnivorous lizards (especially snakes, mosasaurs and varanoids) have proven a close second. Genetic data, presumably less bur...

Assembling the Squamate Tree of Life: Perspectives from the Phenotype and the Fossil Record

A well preserved 220-million-year-old fossil from marine deposits of the Late Triassic of Guizhou in southwest China sheds light on the intermediate steps in the acquisition of the unique turtle body-plan. Transitional forms are scarce in this lineage, making this transition one of the mysteries of reptile evolution. The find is the most primitive turtle known. It has a fully developed plastron, the ventral dermal armour, evolved before the carapace, the dorsal (upper) part of the shell structure. In this fossil the carapace consists of neural plates only. This suggest that the carapace developed via ossification of the neural plates and broadening of the ribs — a sequence that echoes the developmental pattern in young turtles today. 220-million-year-old fossils from southwestern China represent the most primitive turtle known, and shed light on intermediate steps in the acquisition of the unique and highly specialized turtle body-plan. The origin of the turtle body plan remains one of the great mysteries of reptile evolution. The anatomy of turtles is highly derived, which renders it difficult to establish the relationships of turtles with other groups of reptiles. The oldest known turtle, Proganochelys from the Late Triassic period of Germany1, has a fully formed shell and offers no clue as to its origin. Here we describe a new 220-million-year-old turtle from China, somewhat older than Proganochelys, that documents an intermediate step in the evolution of the shell and associated structures. A ventral plastron is fully developed, but the dorsal carapace consists of neural plates only. The dorsal ribs are expanded, and osteoderms are absent. The new species shows that the plastron evolved before the carapace and that the first step of carapace formation is the ossification of the neural plates coupled with a broadening of the ribs. This corresponds to early embryonic stages of carapace formation in extant turtles, and shows that the turtle shell is not derived from a fusion of osteoderms. Phylogenetic analysis places the new species basal to all known turtles, fossil and extant. The marine deposits that yielded the fossils indicate that this primitive turtle inhabited marginal areas of the sea or river deltas.

An ancestral turtle from the Late Triassic of southwestern China

A 95-million-year-old fossil snake from the Middle East documents the most extreme hindlimb development of any known member of that group, as it preserves the tibia, fibula, tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges. It is more complete than Pachyrhachis, a second fossil snake with hindlimbs that was recently portrayed to be basal to all other snakes. Phylogenetic analysis of the relationships of the new taxon, as well as reanalysis of Pachyrhachis, shows both to be related to macrostomatans, a group that includes relatively advanced snakes such as pythons, boas, and colubroids to the exclusion of more primitive snakes such as blindsnakes and pipesnakes.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/287/5460/2010.full.pdf

Olivier Rieppel

Papers

Assembling the Squamate Tree of Life: Perspectives from the Phenotype and the Fossil Record

An ancestral turtle from the Late Triassic of southwestern China

A Fossil Snake with Limbs

Fundamentals of comparative biology

Reptile phylogeny and the interrelationships of turtles