Re: vital effects and genetics

["Eric O. Simpson" <76653.1410@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for your input.
	I can't make much of a defense yet, but here's some intial thoughts.
	Being a vertebrate paleontologist, I follow the rule that if they look
similar, they lived similarly.  While this rule may not readily apply to such
organisms as forams, diatoms, radiolara, and other marine microorganisms, there
is the notion that the general shape of the test is somewhat adaptive,
especially in forams.  As I said, if you have two sister species with a very
similar morphology, then the difference with regard to isotopic controls such as
ecology and diet is minimal because they had nearly identicle ecological niches.
Which leaves the vital effect.
	I'd like to see if there is a vital effect in vertebrate fossils, but
current research focuses almost exlusively on forams.

Eric Simpson
Dept. of Geoscience
Texas Tech University
76653,1410@compuserve.com