Re: What is an "active ectotherm"?

["Jonathan R. Wagner" <znc14@ttacs1.ttu.edu>]

At 10:22 PM 10/9/96 -0400, Dinogeorge wrote:

>What "back-up" does >this< need, for crying out loud? Simply consider the
>alternative: that a fully endothermic animal developed immediately (within
>one generation, or a bit more slowly, within, say one speciation) from a
>fully ectothermic one.

        No.  This is not the only alternative to your hypothesis.  One
alternative is that the transition to endothermy was fast, in a geological
sense, and that it is unlikely that we will find transitional fossils at
all.  You have given no reason why the transition *must* have a priori taken
place, as I quoted you "surely... in stages" and "over quite a few million
years".  this is the "back-up" I requested.

>If you're going to advocate this kind of hog-wild evolution, I think it's
>time for >you< to provide the "back-up."

        Any modern textbook on evolution will address the possibility I have
adressed above.  Go to the index and look up "punctuated equilibria".

>Unless, of course, you adopt the BADD viewpoint, which is, "I don't
>prefer either alternative, but if >you're< going to prefer an
>alternative, >you< back it up."

        Oh contraire, I certainly would not pin this exclusively on "BADD"
paleontology.  As far as I can tell, this is a knee jerk habit in most every
science-related endeavor, including your own, I might add.  It does not do
to pass the buck, no matter who you are.

>Pretty progressive, that is. Give me a break already, with this
>"back-up" bozoism.
 
       Really, there is no reason for all this name-calling.  Please, let's
keep this on a civil basis, shall we?

        Wagner
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jonathan R. Wagner                    "You can clade if you want to,     |
| Department of Geosciences              You can leave your friends behind |
| Texas Tech University                  Because your friends don't clade  |
| Lubbock, TX 79409                               and if they don't clade, |
|       *** wagner@ttu.edu ***           Then they're no friends of mine." |
|           Web Page:  http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/~jrw6f             |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+