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Science 27 May 1988:
Vol. 240. no. 4856, pp. 1190 - 1193
DOI: 10.1126/science.240.4856.1190
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Articles

Macroevolutionary Interpretations of Symmetry and Synchroneity in the Fossil Record

JENNIFER A. KITCHELL 1 and NORMAN MACLEOD 1

1 Department of Geological Sciences and Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

Quantitative analyses of global diversity in the marine fossil record over Phanerozoic time reveal an historically ordered pattern of sequential dominance and increasing diversity. Explanatory models applied to this empirical pattern lead to irreconcilable differences of interpretation. The issue may be resolved by determining the expected distributions and limits of temporal covariation among clades generated by a random branching process. Results also challenge the claim that asymmetries in intra-clade diversity variation provide a directional arrow for the history of life.

Submitted on October 5, 1987
Accepted on March 28, 1988


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Extinct meets extant: simple models in paleontology and molecular phylogenetics.
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N. Macleod (2004)
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Asymmetries of Clade Shape and the Direction of Evolutionary Time.
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Response: Asymmetries of Clade Shape and the Direction of Evolutionary Time.
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