Hi
You are entering the world of Systematics and Biogeography which has more theories and opinions than there are excuses for a day off work including my own theories which are Christian based and by inference wacky!
You are using the biological species concept in describing species as defined by their breeding isolation but as you have correctly pointed out so-called separate species can interbreed. Phylogenic and Ecological species concepts have their own explanations as to what species are and what are not and go in and out of fashion depending on where you did you study.
The world has a number of geographical regions divided by such artificial barriers such as the Wallace Line. Australia also has a number of biogeographic regions which are used to explain why we have so many similar looking species in different areas and is another huge area of interest.
I have a few posts in the science section of my blog if you are interested. Also note that Charles Sturt Uni has a Graduate Certificate of Ornithology available to amateur bird people which covers these subjects comprehensively. It’s an expensive course for what you get but… moving on… the course has whole units on this subject which is only the tip of the iceberg and opens your eyes to the huge world of dissension that exists in scientific theory.
Good luck and good subject…
Regards
Chris Shaw seashore@internode.on.net Mobile 0409 675912
My blog – “Top Birds and Everyfing” can be found on the following link
http://topbirdsandeveryfing.typepad.com/top-birds-everyfing/
“Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting crowd.” – WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
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Ancestor species by definition occour in the past, so to look for ancestor species for today extant animals one need to look at the fossil record. ===============================
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Who knew? Thanks for the tip.
For anyone interested in more, some readings:
“On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection” Darwin is incredibly readable and lucid. Some of what he wrote back then sounds completely bizarre today (he didn’t know about genetics) but much of what he describes is still directly applicable. At a guess, I’d say this is the most important book in the last 200 years as far as modern though goes…so it’s worth a read. And enjoyable!
“The Song of the Dodo” David Quammen This is a fantastic, popular science read – very interesting. It covers biogeography from Wallace forward. Unlike “Origin”, Wallace’s “Island Life” isn’t really as useful to read today. I’ve read “Dodo” a couple of times – it’s a pleasure.
“The Speciation and Biogeography of Birds” Ian Newton A comprehensive, modern text book on the subject.
“The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology and Biogeography” Ernst Mayr and Jared Diamond with (beautiful) plates by Doug Pratt If you know the careers of the authors and illustrator, this book makes a lot of sense. It’s a comprehensive study of the birds of the Solomons and Bismarks that attempts to map out the mechanisms of speciation that were in play for the whole avifauna of the region. A unique effort, at least for birds. Mayr is popularly know as the father of “the modern synthesis” (when Darwin was combined with genetics and brought back in from the cold) and is easily one of the most important names in 20th century evolutionary biology. He also had an astonishing record of field research – going to places very few people have ever been, even now. (He wandered around New Guinea back when they were still eating people.) Jared Diamond is well-known for authoring “Guns, Germs and Steel” and “Collapse”. He’s also prominent in New Guinean ornithology. Doug Pratt is one of the world’s greatest field guide illustrators and a prominent ornithologist for the Pacific (his field guiide for Hawaii and the tropical Pacific is great and his monograph on the Hawaiian honeycreepers is the more authoritative to date.) Anyway, the point is that some fairly serious people devoted a long time to creating a book about the birds of a region very few people will visit. Why? From the introduction:
“In this book we present a comprehensive, detailed study of speciation for all resident land and freshwater bird species of Northern Melanesia…What is the need for a new book on speciation?….Darwin did not solve the problem of speciation-namely, the problem of how multiple daughter species originate from a single ancestral species.” They go on to explain the history of the question(s), their answers, and lingering area of scientific disagreement and debate. (Creationism isn’t part of scientific debate but there’s plenty disagreement about the shape and detail of evolutionary theory all the same.) They go on to explain that Northern Melanesia’s birds are an ideal study group because of the numerous key similarities (such as climate, habitats) and differences (such land area, relation to line of march direction of likely colonizers) that make is an ideal laboratory. The relative isolation of the region from modern-industrial human settlement is also a huge plus.
I’m sure there are other great books – recommendations welcome! ===============================
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