SW 10.30.12 Reading Response Q's & A's

1 - In Wonderful Life Gould hypothesizes on cultural values, assumptions, and what kind of logic are evident in the original interpretation of the Burgess Shale, and then the change in thinking that led to its recent re-interpretation. What model of biodiversity and evolutionary change does Gould argue resulted in the earlier error in classifying the Burgess Shale animals? What is the original cultural/historical source of that model, or what he calls “iconography”?
The model of biodiversity and evolutionary change Gould argues resulted in earlier error in classifying Shale's animals is a theory stating in a linear form the most primitive to most complex which is inaccurate. The original cultural/historical source of that model "iconography" is the upside-down Christmas tree pointing to modern man-kind.
2 - Notice that much of Gould’s argument centers on discussing evolutionary tress (phylogenies) of the kind you constructed on a small scale. At the end of the chapter we see he is interested in the overall shapes (“topology”) of the phylogenies. Why? What does he claim that the shape of phylogenies imply about how evolution happens over long stretches of time that had been neglected by biologists? What kinds of causal factors alter the course of evolution, the shape of phylogenies, and the eventual designs of organisms that we see today?
Gould suggests problems in the shapes of phylogenies that exclude diversification of organisms. The more modern evolutions placed at the end of the spectrum is inaccurate because of an ever evolving collection of organisms. Gould uses the tree analogy to disrupt the idea that change begins and ends within the current visual set up. He also proposes a combining of branch philosophies: using both the temporal and cladogram processes.
2b - Related: What does it mean to “replay the Tape of Life” and why is this an interesting idea to Gould? Relate Gould’s preferred model with the views of early Catastrophists – what would Cuvier (if alive) like and not like about Gould’s interpretation?
3 - What is “disparity” versus “diversity”? Give an original example (one not given in the reading).
Disparity is the measured number of species, usually a rather small amount. Diversity is most commonly used to describe the number of variations, or "body plans" in a species. One example of diversity is Fulgoridae that have over 12,000 different species. One example of disparity is a Chameleon that has a species variation under 200.
4 - In the reading Evolution by Walking what is so interesting about how the American Museum of Natural History has changed their mammal display? Why is it significant in how we think about biodiversity in his opinion?
The American Museum of Natural History changed their mammal display by changing the temporal order to a inconographic branching showing heirachies in lineages (shared-derived). Basically it disrupts traditional displays that were problematic to organisms that still exist and have diversified to a new display of how organisms branched off. This lineage of organisms changed order than what was previously seen. Previously viewers did not get to see the biodiversity of organisms because it was set up as the bigger, more evolved replaced the previous organism.