Table of contents : Contents......Page 10 Contributors......Page 11 Introduction: Neutral Models as a Biological Research Strategy......Page 14 I. MOLECULAR AND GENETIC MODELS......Page 20 1. Neutral Models in Molecular Evolution......Page 22 2. False Models as Means to Truer Theories......Page 34 3. Self-Organization, Selective Adaptation, and Its Limits: A New Pattern of Inference in Evolution and Development......Page 67 II. ECOLOGICAL MODELS......Page 102 4. How to Be Objective in Community Studies......Page 104 5. On the Use of Null Hypotheses in Biogeography......Page 120 III. PALEONTOLOGICAL MODELS......Page 130 6. Neutral Models in Paleobiology......Page 132 7. Neutral Model of Taxonomic Diversification in the Phanerozoic: A Methodological Discussion......Page 144 8. Testing Hypotheses or Fitting Models? Another Look at Mass Extinctions......Page 158 C......Page 171 F......Page 172 I......Page 173 M......Page 174 R......Page 175 T......Page 176 Z......Page 177