Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The views presented in this volume have their source largely in the
work of two biologists, the late Willi Hennig, author of a 1966 book
called “Phylogenetic systematics,” and Leon Croizat, author of a
1964 book called “Space, time, form: The biological synthesis,” and
in the writings of a philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper. Hennig
and Croizat have not found their work particularly compatible (Hen-
nig never cited Croizat, and Croizat [1976] has published negative
comments on Hennig), and neither one has indicated any interest
in Popper's views or cited them as being compatible with his own.
Yet both Hennig and Croizat have made substantial, and substan-
tially similar, contributions in (1) pointing out major inadequacies in
some conventional methods in systematics and biogeography, re-
spectively, and (2) suggesting significantly improved methods for
those fields. We believe that the contributions of both Hennig and
Croizat can be readily (and fruitfully) understood within the context of
Popper's view of the nature and growth of scientific knowledge, and
that the ideas of all three men are largely compatible. (Nelson and
Platnick 1981:ix)
Rosen, Nelson, and Platnick associated Croizat's panbiogeography with
Hennig's phylogenetic systematics, creating vicariance or cladistic biogeo-
graphy (Nelson 1969, 1973, 1974, 1978a, 1983; Nelson and Platnick 1980,
1981; Platnick and Nelson 1978; Rosen 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981).
Cladistic biogeography assumes a correspondence between taxonomic re-
lationships and area relationships (
fig. 3.8
). If we compare area cladograms
derived from taxonomic cladograms of different groups of plant and animals
inhabiting a certain region, we may recognize the general pattern of frag-
mentation of the areas analyzed (Morrone and Crisci 1995). Croizat (1982)
found this combination of panbiogeography with phylogenetic systematics
to be completely unacceptable because he had already denounced Hennig,
claiming that he had plagiarized the ideas of Rosa (Croizat 1978).
