Principles and Importance of Contemporary Systematics: A Brief Bibliography

Version of February 1993

This bibliography was compiled for the members of the Darwin-L discussion group by Robert J. O’Hara (rjohara@post.harvard.edu), and the master copy of it is maintained in the Files section of the Darwin-L Archives (rjohara.net/darwin). This is not meant to be an exhaustive set of references but is instead a short list of recent works that can introduce students to some of the central ideas of contemporary systematics. This bibliography may be freely distributed in print or electronically as long as the references and this header remain intact. Additional bibliographies on the history of systematics, on trees of history, on narrative in the historical sciences, and on the works of Stephen Toulmin are also available in the Darwin-L Archives.

Introductory works on phylogenetic reconstruction and contemporary systematics

• de Queiroz, K. 1988. Systematics and the Darwinian revolution. Philosophy of Science, 55: 238–259.
• Felsenstein, J. 1988. Phylogenies from molecular sequences: inference and reliability. Annual Review of Genetics, 22: 521–565.
• Maddison, D.R. 1991. Chapter 11 in: Principles of Systematic Zoology (second edition) (E. Mayr & P.D. Ashlock). New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Maddison, W.P., & D.R. Maddison. 1989. Interactive analysis of phylogeny and character evolution using the computer program MacClade. Folia Primatologica, 53: 190–202.
• Maddison, W.P., & D.R. Maddison. 2000. MacClade (version 4). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.
• O’Hara, R.J. 1988. Homage to Clio, or toward an historical philosophy for evolutionary biology. Systematic Zoology, 37: 142–155.
• Sober, E. 1988. Reconstructing the Past: Parsimony, Evolution, and Inference. Cambridge: MIT Press.
• Swofford, D.L., & J. Olsen. 1990. Phylogenetic reconstruction. Pp. 411–501 in: Molecular Systematics (D.M. Hillis & C. Moritz, eds.). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.
• Wiley, E.O., D. Siegel-Causey, D.R. Brooks, & V.A. Funk. 1991. The compleat cladist: a primer of phylogenetic procedures. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Special Publication 19.

Works on the importance of phylogenetic (historical) knowledge to biology

• Baum, D.A., & A. Larson. 1991. Adaptation reviewed: a phylogenetic methodology for studying character macroevolution. Systematic Zoology, 40: 1–18.
• Brooks, D.R., & D.A. McLennan. 1991. Phylogeny, Ecology, and Behavior: A Research Program in Comparative Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Burghardt, G.M., & J.L. Gittleman. 1990. Comparative behavior and phylogenetic analysis. In: Interpretation and Explanation in the Study of Behavior: Comparative Perspectives (M. Bekoff & D. Jamieson, eds.). Boulder: Westview Press.
• Coddington, J.A. 1988. Cladistic tests of adaptational hypotheses. Cladistics, 4: 3–22.
• Felsenstein, J. 1985. Phylogenies and the comparative method. American Naturalist, 125: 1–15.
• Fink, W.L. 1982. The conceptual relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny. Paleobiology, 8: 254–264.
• Harvey, P.H., & M.D. Pagel. 1991. The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Huey, R.B. 1987. Phylogeny, history, and the comparative method. Pp. 76–98 in: New Directions in Ecological Physiology (M.E. Feder, A.F. Bennett, W. Burggren, & R.B. Huey, eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Lang, M. 1990. Cladistics as a tool for morphologists. Netherlands Journal of Zoology, 40: 386–402.
• Lauder, G.V. 1982. Historical biology and the problem of design. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 97: 57–67.
• McLennan, D.A. 1991. Integrating phylogeny and experimental ethology: from pattern to process. Evolution, 45: 1773–1789.
• Ronquist, F., & S. Nylin. 1990. Process and pattern in the evolution of species associations. Systematic Zoology, 39: 323–344.
• Stiassny, M.L.J. 1992. Phylogenetic analysis and the role of systematics in the biodiversity crisis. Pp. 109–120 in: Systematics, Ecology, and the Biodiversity Crisis (N. Eldredge, ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.
• Vane-Wright, R.I., C.J. Humphries, & P.H. Williams. 1991. What to protect? Systematics and the agony of choice. Biological Conservation, 55: 235–254.
• Wanntorp, H.-E., D.R. Brooks, T. Nilsson, S. Nylin, F. Ronquist, S.C. Stearns, & N. Wedell. 1990. Phylogenetic approaches in ecology. Oikos, 57: 119–132.