The distribution of organic forms is clumpy at any scale from populations to the highest
taxonomic categories, and whether considered within clades or within ecosystems. The …

The diversity of organismic form has evolved nonuniformly during the history of life.
Quantitative morphological studies reveal profound changes in evolutionary rates …

Morphological disparity, the measure of morphological variation among species and higher
taxa, has been at the core of an important research program in paleobiology over the last 25 …

Morphological diversity has the potential to provide a very useful biodiversity metric in that if
emphasizes essential aspects of diversity that are not picked up by taxonomic or …

Morphological continuity in the fossil record is the principal evidence favoring evolution as a
historical explanation for the diversity of life. Continuity is usually discussed on scales …

The evolutionary models of punctuated equilibria and species selection: 1. rely upon a
model of species origin from peripheral isolates, and 2. interpret trends as the net result of …

Frequencies of new character state derivations are analyzed for 56 fossil taxa. The
hypothesis that new character states are added continuously throughout clade history can …

Heterochrony, change in developmental rate and timing, is widely recognized as an agent of
evolutionary change. Heterotopy, evolutionary change in spatial patterning of development …

Consideration of the ways in which ontogenetic development may be modified to give
morphological novelty provides a conceptual framework that can greatly assist in formulating …

The long‐term diversification of life probably cannot be modelled as a simple equilibrial
process: the time scales are too long, the potential for exploring new ecospace is too large …