Abstract The debate on the a fortiori and universal that took place between April 1914 1919 in journal Mind has double interest for argumentation theorists. First, discussion is an example of philosophical polylogue exhibits characteristics quasi-engaged dialogue (Blair Blair, J. A. (2012 [1998]). “The Limits Dialogue Model Argument”. Argumentation 12, pp. 325–339. Reprinted J.A. Groundwork The...

Evolutionary biologists have often assumed that ecological generalism comes at the expense of less intense exploitation of specific resources and that this trade-off will promote the evolution of ecologically specialized daughter species. Using a phylogenetic comparative approach with butterflies as a model system, we test hypotheses that incorporate changes in niche breadth and location into e...

Why does species richness vary so greatly across lineages? Traditionally, variation in species richness has been attributed to deterministic processes, although it is equally plausible that it may result from purely stochastic processes. We show that, based on the best available phylogenetic hypothesis, the pattern of cladogenesis among agamid lizards is not consistent with a random model, with...

Though prey use a variety of information sources to assess predation risk, evolutionary cohistory with a predator could constrain information use, and nonnative prey might fail to recognize risk from a novel predator. Nonnative prey might instead use generalized risk assessment, relying on general alarm signals from injured conspecifics rather than cues from predators. I tested the influence of...

Whatever happened to the generalist? Healthcare has become increasingly specialised over past decades yet surprisingly little has been written about the demise of generalism in mental health for example, it gets very little attention in the New Ways of Working documentation (Royal College of Psychiatrists et al, 2005). The roles of generalist and specialist have a reciprocal relationship to one...

Birds follow the “island rule”, under which small-bodied forms tend to get larger on islands and large-bodied forms tend to get smaller. The traditional explanation for larger island relatives of small-bodied forms is based on ecological release on islands: islands support relatively few species, interspecific competition thus is weak, selection therefore favors niche expansion and ecological g...