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Science 10 November 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5801, p. 925
DOI: 10.1126/science.1130419
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Technical Comments

Comment on "Statistical Independence of Escalatory Ecological Trends in Phanerozoic Marine Invertebrates"

Gregory P. Dietl1*{dagger} and Geerat J. Vermeij2

Madin et al. (Reports, 12 May 2006, p. 897) reported that escalation has not been an important cause of biological change throughout the history of life. However, they evaluated the escalation hypothesis with inappropriate data. First, global-scale data integrate heterogeneous signals that obscure the economic context of life. Second, diversity data cannot yield information about selection and adaptation.

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
2 Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

* Present address: Paleontological Research Institution, 1259 Trumansburg Road, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gpd3{at}cornell.edu

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