SEMINAR: Friday, July 24, 1998, 12:00 pm
Lister Hill Center (NIH BLdg. 38A), 8th floor conference room

Byron J. Adams
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Symbiosis, matricidal birth, parasitic infections and cadavers that
glow in the dark: Model evolutionary organism or X-files poster child?


Byron J. Adams is a postdoc with the Department of Plant Pathology at
the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He has applied for the taxonomist
position.  The title and abstract of his seminar are appended below.


  Detlef




Symbiosis, matricidal birth, parasitic infections and cadavers that
glow in the dark: Model evolutionary organism or X-files poster child?

Abstract: The insect parasitic nematode Heterorhabditis offers a
totally bitchin' system for addressing a bunch of evolutionary
questions.  However, at the crux of these questions lie components of
species delimitation and phylogeny.  These two components are crucial
because failing to account for the fundamental units of evolution
(species) and their historical relationships obviates our ability to
impute an adaptation with confidence, or even identify a single
coevolutionary event.  My work with this nematode involves inferring
phylogenetic relationships among species via nuclear and mitochondrial
gene trees.  I also explore and advocate an alternative concept of
species.  In providing a systematic framework for future studies, I
show that relationships among species can be inferred with a modicum
of confidence, but that a satisfactory delimitation of species
requires abandoning the dysfunctional notions of Linnean and
Biological species.