What is punctuated equilibrium? What is macroevolution? A response to Pennell et al.

✍ Scribed by Lieberman, Bruce S.; Eldredge, Niles

• Book ID: 121532090
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 184 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0169-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.02.005

✦ Synopsis

What is punctuated equilibrium [or 'equilibria' as termed by one of us (N.E.)]? What is macroevolution? These are questions central to evolutionary biology. Yet, recently in an article in Trends Ecol. Evol. by Pennell et al.[1] the former is mischaracterized and the latter is not even defined. Here, we rectify these oversights by providing a definition of macroevolution, an accurate rendition of punctuated equilibrium (PE), and an elucidation of how they must be related. Furthermore, consider the title of [1]: 'Is there room for punctuated equilibrium. . .?' Such a question is flawed: concepts do not battle for lebensraum, although sometimes their opponents and proponents seem compelled to.