Boudagher-Fadel, MK; (2014) Marcelle BouDagher-Fadel. In: Sánchez-Villagra, MR and MacLeod, N, (eds.) Issues in Palaeobiology: a Global View. Interviews and Essays. (pp. 15-27). Scidinge Hall Verlag: Zürich, Switzerland.

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Abstract

For me, the central questions in palaeobiology are the implications of the process of speciation and radiation in space and time. Ever since the articulation of the Darwin- Wallace Theory of Evolution, the nature of biological species within the context of natural evolution - and indeed the process of speciation itself - have been an enduring and key topic. Throughout geological time and up to the present day, life in the ocean shows an exciting and fascinating exuberance of biodiversity. Living biological species are largely genetically identical and capable of inter-breading but, in the fossil record, morphology and palaeoecological context must be used to infer kinship. All biological characters of the species are then used to infer its origin, its progress in biostratigraphic columns, and its eventual demise. These characteristics also guide the classification and phylogenetic lineages of the group of species and their speciation in time. Hohenegger (2012) defined speciation as the splitting up of a group of genotypes into groups with differing genotypic frequencies, while a unique species is homogeneous in its genetic composition. However, the biological concept of species is still not globally unified and the factors leading to speciation are yet not widely understood.

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