Joel Cracraft

Joel L. Cracraft (* 1943 ) is an American ornithologist and paleontologist . He is the curator of ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).

Cracraft received his PhD from Columbia University in 1969 ( Functional Morphology of Locomotion in Birds ). In addition to his work at the AMNH, he also taught at Columbia University.

He deals with the higher systematics of birds. Recently he has been investigating (also with DNA analysis) the relationships between the birds of paradise in New Guinea and the surrounding area and the causes of their diversification, as well as the corvids and other songbirds. Another focus of his research is conservation of species.

In the 1970s and 1980s he made (controversial) attempts at a cladistic systematics of birds. He also dealt with paleo-biogeography, patterns in family trees, the concept of species, speciation and other questions of evolutionary theory, collaborating with Niles Eldredge .

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Ornithologists' Union . He was president of the Society of Systematic Biologists.

Fonts

• Continental drift, paleoclimatology, and the evolution and biogeography of birds , Journal of Zoology 169, 1973, 455-543
• Phylogenetic models and classification , Systematic Biology 23, 1974, 71-90
• Phylogeny and evolution of the ratite birds , Ibis 116, 1974, 494-521
• Toward a phylogenetic classification of the recent birds of the world (Class Aves) , The Auk, 1981, 681-714
• with Niles Eldredge Phylogenetic patterns and the evolutionary process. Method and theory in comparative biology , Columbia University Press 1985
• Species concepts and speciation analysis , Current Ornithology, 1, 1983, 159-187
• Historical biogeography and patterns of differentiation within the South American avifauna: areas of endemism , Ornithological Monographs, American Ornithologists Union 1985, pp. 49-81
• Deep-history biogeography: retrieving the historical pattern of evolving continental biotas , Systematic Biology, 37, 1988, 221-236
• The major clades of birds , in: The phylogeny and classification of the tetrapods 1, 1988, 339-361
• with F. Keith Barker, Michael Braun, John Harshman, Gareth J. Dyke, Julie Feinstein, Scott Stanley, Alice Cibois , Peter Schikler, Pamela Beresford, Jaime García-Moreno, Michael D. Sorenson, Tamaki Yuri, David P. Mindell: Phylogenetic relationships among modern birds (Neornithes): toward an avian tree of life , in J. Cacraft, MJ Donoghue Assembling the tree of life , Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 468-489
• with F. Keith Barker, Alice Cibois, Peter Schikler, Julie Feinstein Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation , Proc. National Academy of Sciences USA, 101, 2004, 11040-11045
• Editor with F. Grifo The Living Planet in Crisis: Biodiversity Science and Policy , Columbia University Press, 1999
• Editor with MJ Donoghue: Assembling the Tree of Life , Oxford University Press, 2004

Web links

• Homepage at the AMNH
• Homepage at Columbia University

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JL Cracraft, FK Barker, M. Braun, J. Harshman, GJ Dyke, J. Feinstein, S. Stanley, A. Cibois, P. Schikler, P. Beresford, J. García-Moreno, MD Sorenson, T. Yuri , DP Mindell: Phylogenetic relationships among modern birds (Neornithes): toward an avian tree of life , in J. Cracraft, MJ Donoghue (Ed.) Assembling the Tree of Life . Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 468–489, pdf ( Memento of the original dated February 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.