FIGURE 9.1 Similar losses of taxic diversity have very different implications for the loss of evolutionary history depending on the phylogenetic distribution of the extinctions. Three different scenarios are shown, at levels A, B, and C. (A) Seven taxa are lost (33% extinction) but the overall structure of the phylogeny is preserved. (B) An entire clade of seven taxa is pruned, but the remaining structure is preserved. (C) Six taxa are lost but this eliminates the deepest branching clades.

FIGURE 9.1

Similar losses of taxic diversity have very different implications for the loss of evolutionary history depending on the phylogenetic distribution of the extinctions. Three different scenarios are shown, at levels A, B, and C. (A) Seven taxa are lost (33% extinction) but the overall structure of the phylogeny is preserved. (B) An entire clade of seven taxa is pruned, but the remaining structure is preserved. (C) Six taxa are lost but this eliminates the deepest branching clades.

From: 9, Extinction as the Loss of Evolutionary History

Cover of In the Light of Evolution
In the Light of Evolution: Volume II: Biodiversity and Extinction.
National Research Council (US); Avise JC, Hubbell SP, Ayala FJ, editors.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2008.
Copyright 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

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