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Using Archival Japanese Paper and Thermoplastic Resins to Prepare Fossils for Storage, Display, Transport, and Radiography
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Rethinking Living Fossils.

Scott Lidgard1, Alan C Love2

  • 1Integrative Research Center, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The concept of "living fossils" remains relevant in biology, extending beyond paleontology to explain the persistence of traits across various life forms. Analyzing these cases offers insights into evolutionary stasis and guides future research directions.

Keywords:
character evolutionconceptsevolutionary ratesliving fossilstasis

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Paleontology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • The concept of 'living fossils' is often confined to paleontology, but its application is broader, encompassing diverse taxa from viruses to higher taxonomic groups.
  • Despite warnings about potential misleading inferences, the study of living fossils offers valuable insights into evolutionary processes.
  • Prolonged evolutionary stasis, observed in both molecular and morphological traits, requires explanation and challenges traditional biological inquiry.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate the concept of living fossils and its utility in modern biological research.
  • To demonstrate how analyzing living fossils advances the understanding of prolonged stasis at multiple hierarchical levels.
  • To highlight the role of living fossils in identifying traits and lineages that require further evolutionary explanation.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of character evolution in extant organisms exhibiting stasis.
  • Examination of living fossils across various taxonomic levels, from viruses to higher taxa.
  • Integration of phylogenetic analysis, ecological and evolutionary modeling, and evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo).

Main Results:

  • The concept of living fossils is applicable beyond paleontology, serving as a crucial tool for understanding evolutionary stasis.
  • Studying living fossils, by analyzing 'parts' (characters) and 'wholes' (organisms/lineages), enhances comprehension of prolonged stasis.
  • The persistence of both molecular and morphological traits in living fossils highlights areas needing evolutionary explanation.

Conclusions:

  • Living fossils are not relics of the past but vital subjects for current biological research, prompting new hypotheses.
  • Rethinking living fossils as specific hypotheses opens avenues for integrating diverse research fields.
  • A unified theoretical outlook in evolutionary biology can be achieved by incorporating insights from living fossil research.