EXCESS HOMOPLASY RATIOS

Abstract Archie (1990) prefers his homoplasy excess ratio HER to Farris' (1989) ¹ ensemble retention index R . HER, he writes, lacks R 's defects: R 's minimum is not zero, and varies with number of terminals or characters.
HER has those defects. Archie has misunderstood the permutation method on which HER rests, and mistaken the properties of R as well. After explaining those points, I describe other permutation-based indices and briefly consider their utility. These provide relative measures of congruence among the characters of the data; one corresponds to a significance test.     

PARSIMONY AND THE CHOICE BETWEEN DIFFERENT TRANSFORMATIONS FOR THE SAME CHARACTER SET

Abstract— When phylogeneticists choose among alternative hypotheses, they choose the one that requires the fewest ad hoc assumptions, i.e. the one that is the most parsimonious. For some systematists, choosing among alternative transformation series for the same set of taxa is equivalent to attaining trees with shorter length and minimal homoplasy. Homoplasy is shown to be composed of hierarchical discordance and scattering, which are recognized and described for the first time. Neither the consistency nor retention indices can be used in assessing different theories of multistate character transformation because both are affected by the shape of the transformation series rather than the character state distribution on a tree. Fits of transformations to a tree are better assessed by comparing the transformation to the cladogram character and the nearest neighbor network. Nearest neighbor networks are graphical representations of the nearest neighbor matrix. Transformations with the closest greatest number of matches between cladogram characters and the least complexity in the nearest neighbor network are preferred. These transformations are shown to make the fewest number of ad hoc statements and hence to be the most parsimonious. A means for obtaining cladogram characters and nearest neighbor matrices using a widely distributed microcomputer program is presented.     

DIFFERENCES IN THE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF HYDROXYPROLINE-PROTEINS AMONG THE ALGAE

Fifty algae from seven phyla have been examined in order to determine whether they contain protein-bound hydroxyproline and whether this hydroxyproline is concentrated in the cell wall. Green algae, with the exception of Nitella, all contain hydroxyproline, and in most cases it is concentrated in the cell wall. Hydroxyproline is also present in low levels in the brown algae, but here it is concentrated in the soluble proteins. Red algae contain no hydroxyproline. The presence of hydroxyproline in blue-green algae is variable, but when present the levels are low. It appears, then, that the major algal phyla differ with respect to the distribution and occurrence of hydroxyproline-proteins.     

THE VISIBILITY AND INVISIBILITY OF PRODUCTION AMONG SENEGALESE CRAFTSMEN

This article examines three social contexts of the production and exchange of craft objects in Senegal. In each context, the extent to which the production of craft items is visible or invisible varies, and these variations in turn affect the ways in which value is construed. These examples are understood as different 'regimes of value' (Appadurai), in whose constitution the production of craft objects, whether this is visible or invisible, plays a crucial role. The argument is that the concept of 'regime of value' needs to address more than simply the 'flow' of commodities, and must have regard for the organization of the relations between production, distribution, and consumption of craft objects. The article also frames these West African examples within a broader argument about the importance of the concept of production in order to redress the over-reliance of contemporary social theories on notions of consumption.     

MALE MATE CHOICE AND THE EVOLUTION OF FEMALE PLUMAGE COLORATION IN THE HOUSE FINCH

The house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) is a sexually dichromatic passerine in which males display colorful plumage and females are generally drab brown. Some females, however, have a subdued version of the same pattern of ornamental coloration seen in males. In previous research, I found that female house finches use male coloration as an important criterion when choosing mates and that the plumage brightness of males is a reliable indicator of male nest attentiveness. Male house finches invest substantially in the care of young and, like females, stand to gain by choosing high-quality mates. I therefore hypothesized that a female's plumage brightness might be correlated with her quality and be the basis for male mate choice. In laboratory mate choice experiments, male house finches showed a significant preference for the most brightly plumaged females presented. Observations of a wild population of house finches, however, suggest that female age is the primary criterion in male choice and that female plumage coloration is a secondary criterion. In addition, yearling females tended to have more brightly colored plumage than older females, and there was no relationship between female plumage coloration and overwinter survival, reproductive success, or condition. These observations fail to support the idea that female plumage coloration is an indicator of individual quality. Male mate choice for brightly plumaged females may have evolved as a correlated response to selection on females to choose brightly colored males.