@gungasnake,
Quote: Neat debate here (fman vs fman) but Farmerman B is closer to the truth of the matter. The truth of the matter is that stasis and sudden appearance are the inviolate rule of the entire fossil record. Readers are envited to do their own research on the topic.
Obviously you are ust too stupid to understand that B was the WAY that Gould and Eldredge came up with PE, and A was merely a methodology they used to attempt to demonstrate it via cladistics in two specific fossil species of brachiopods. Dont talk like you even have a glimmer of a clue cause you dont. Youve obviously been so blinded by the fatuous pronouncements of the Ken Hams that you are unable to even view summary and field data.
You havent read Gould because those clips you posted were carefully cherry picked and edited for maximum spin. Some lines are paragraphs apart and linked by PAGE , not an internal linkage in the same thoughts. Im ashamed at your quote mining. Goulds book is a very big fat work that was probably written as a defense of PE and much of what Gould says is just not borne out by evidence.
At least you are getting around to presenting some NEWER quote mining. As Linneaus said, and that which underlies both Darwin and PE, "
natura non facit saltum vi. The concept of Gradualism doesnt mean that in all species at all times the general gradualistic sequence of morphology is ALWAYS seen. However, what Gould is about in PE is more to explain the stasis that you quoted earlier. The stasis is a key of developmental information. The PE is a sequence that (Gould and Eldredge were convinced) represent an actual evolutionary sequence that shows rapid changes WITHIN THE VISIBLE FOSSIL RECORDof the species. A geologist may not agree that sampling errors were not absent and, similarly, a biologist will , via genetic "back calculations" see that todays rates of evolution are all gradualistic , at least when viewed via genetics. (However, Im willing, based upon the epigenetics information, to revise my own views of the speed of that gradualism).
Eldredge himself said in2005 that
"We were not anti Darwinian heretics. We always said that the transistion (between intermediates) was "rapid" compared with the periods of evolutionary non-change (which we called stasis). It depends on what is meant by "rapid", we made every effort to be clear,and kept saying that our best estimates for "rapid" were in the 5 to 50 thousand-year range--rapid by geologic standards, but well within the range of known evolutionary rates back in the early 1970s (when they developed the hypothesis). Genetecists nowadays have far less trouble contemplating such rates of evolution between species, some even pronouncing them rather conservatively slow ELDredge N. 2005 "
DARWIN-Discovering the Tree of Life .Norton Pub. p 74.
MAyr is less forgiving despite Eldredges above recap.
"Even though thecontinuity of speciational evolution, it will appear in the scanty fossil record as a saltation and has been described as such. This is a misinterpretation, since every step in speciational evolution is a gradual populational process.
Eldredge and Gould (1972) have called this process "evolution by punctuated equilibria". .. The claim has been made by some authors that the occurence of PE is in conflict with gradual Darwinian evolution. THis is incorrect (GOULD 1977) Even PE, which at first sight, seems to support saltationism and discontinuity, is , in fact, strictly a populational phenomenon, and therefore gradual. PE is in no way in conflict with the conclusions of the evolutionary synthesis E B MAyr (2001)
What Evolution IS PErseus, Basic Books Pub, pp (193, 270).
Gould and Eldredge did NOT speak of rapid jumps of entire higher taxa, they did their studies on the intra fossil records of species that already displayed a long cladistic record . They looked at morphological features within the species not a sudden occurence of new taxa. THey then proceeded to attempt to demonstrate these stasis/evolution/ stasis, stasis in the fossil records of mucrospirifer and paraspirifers of the Devonian (L).
If you wish to be educated about what PE means (and doesnt mean) from a paleo/geo/ or genetics standpoint please take time to read and understand the directions (and always wear safety glasses when handling power tools)
