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Trends, tools, and terminology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Daniel W. McShea
Daniel W. McShea*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90325, Durham, North Carolina 27708. E-mail: dmcshea@duke.edu
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Extract

It has been said that most scientists would rather use another scientist's toothbrush than his terminology. In this issue's Matters of the Record, John Alroy suggests certain conceptual and methodological changes for the study of mechanisms, or dynamics, of large-scale trends, and also a revision of current trend-mechanism terminology. On the conceptual and methodological matters, Alroy's suggestions are good ones (with one important exception), and here I applaud them and explain further why they ought to be taken seriously. Predictably, however, I do not endorse (some of) his terminological revisions.

Type
Matters of the Record
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , Summer 2000 , pp. 330 - 333
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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