Evaluating Diversity, with Application to the Order Galliformes

ABSTRACTS

One foundational goal of baraminology, or the study of created kinds, is to identify which creatures known today are related in that they belong to the same created kind (baramin). From this foundation baraminology provides a robust framework for better understanding biology and the natural history of life. Once a baramin is delineate with reasonable certainty, it is important to evaluate the unity and diversity within the group. This allows well-reasoned inferences on which traits can undergo change, and which are largely fixed. In part I of this series, we examined the avian order Galliformes, or chicken like birds.Here we evaluate each of the five galliform families and note some of the morphological and behavioral diversity in this group. This will lay a foundation for further study regarding the natural history of this baramin, and may help to uncover mechanisms involved in generating this diversity (e.g., created heterozygosity, genetic changes, migration, hybridization, etc.).