A recent article in Science ("Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation: A Field Experiment with Lizards") got me thinking about how to classify works on evolution. Different aspects of evolution are classed in different numbers. A work that emphasizes evolution commonly also considers the interrelated topics ecology and adaptation.
One of the works cited in the article may serve as an example: The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation. The publisher's description and the table of contents help clarify the scope and focus of the work:
Adaptive radiation is the evolution of diversity within a rapidly multiplying lineage. It can cause a single ancestral species to differentiate into an impressively vast array of species inhabiting a variety of environments. Much of life's diversity has arisen during adaptive radiations. Some of the most famous recent examples include the East African cichilid fishes, the Hawaiian silverswords, and Darwin's Galapagos finches. This book evaluates the causes of adaptive radiation. It focuses on the 'ecological' theory of adaptive radiation, a body of ideas that began with Darwin and were developed through the early part of the 20th century. This theory proposes that phenotypic divergence and speciation in adaptive radiation are caused ultimately by divergent natural selection arising from differences in environment and competition between species. The text re-evaluates the ecological theory, along with its most significant extensions and challenges, in the light of all the recent evidence.
Contents:
1. The origins of ecological diversity
2. Detecting adaptive radiation
3. The progress of adaptive radiation
4. The ecological theory of adaptive radiation
5. Divergent natural selection between environments
6. Divergence and species interactions
7. Ecological opportunity
8. The ecological basis of speciation
9. Divergence along genetic lines of least resistance
10. The ecology of adaptive radiation
As the examples in the description suggest, The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation covers a range of plants and animals. The work has the LCSH:
Evolution (Biology)
Adaptive radiation (Evolution)
Ecology
Adaptation (Biology)
Browsing the Relative Index for "evolution" yields:
Evolution 576.8
Searching or browsing for "adaptive radiation" yields no hits, but browsing the Relative Index for "radiation" yields one relevant entry:
Radiation (Biological evolution) 576.84
The schedule record 576.84 Evolutionary cycles has the class-here note: "Class here catastrophes, extinction, radiation."
Browsing the Relative Index for "ecology" yields:
Ecology 577
By the rule of application, since ecology is discussed as a cause of adaptive radiation, the work is classed with adaptive radiation in 576.84 rather than ecology.
Browsing the Relative Index for "adaptation" yields:
Adaptation (Biology) 578.4
The entry 578 Natural history of organisms and related subjects, which is part of the upward hierarchy of 578.4 Adaptation, has the see reference: "For genetics and evolution, see 576." That reference has hierarchical force.
Various aspects of evolution are discussed in the work. Natural selection (named in a class-here note at 576.82 Theories of evolution) is discussed as a cause of adaptive radiation. Speciation (named at 576.86 Speciation) is discussed only in the context of adaptive radiation. The emphasis is on adaptive radiation. The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation is classed in 576.84 Evolutionary cycles.
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