Ernst Mayr quotes - page 2

A species is a reproductive community of populations reproductively isolated from others that occupies a specific niche in nature. (Ernst Mayr)
Evolution thus is merely contingent on certain processes articulated by Darwin: variation and selection. View quote
Ernst Mayr
Definitions are temporary verbalizations of concepts, and concepts- particularly difficult concepts- are usually revised repeatedly as our knowledge and understanding grows. View quote
Ernst Mayr
Scientific progress consists in the development of new concepts. View quote
Ernst Mayr
There are a number of attributes of species and populations that are not of any particular selective advantage to any single individual in a population but that are of great advantage to the population as a whole. View quote
Ernst Mayr
It is curious how often erroneous theories have had a beneficial effect for particular branches of science. View quote
Ernst Mayr
I had found again and again that the most aberrant population of a species - often having reached species rank, and occasionally classified even as a separate genus - occurred at a peripheral location, indeed usually at the most isolated peripheral location. View quote
Ernst Mayr
To take an unequivocal stand, it seems to me, is of greater heuristic value and far more likely to stimulate constructive criticism than to evade the issue. View quote
Ernst Mayr
Given the fact of evolution, one would expect the fossils to document a gradual steady change from ancestral forms to the descendants. But this is not what the paleontologist finds. Instead, he or she finds gaps in just about every phyletic series. View quote
Ernst Mayr
In neither his definition nor the examples illustrating what memes are does Dawkins mention anything that would distinguish memes from concepts. View quote
Ernst Mayr
Most of them are doomed to rapid extinction, but a few may make evolutionary inventions, such as physiological, ecological, or behavioral innovations that give these species improved competitive potential. (Ernst Mayr)