Revolution

[Barbara Ertter]

Roger Hyam wrote:
>Surely if the diversity was "atomisable" as we are presuming we would
>have finished with vascular plants by now. (Could all be having fun
>with phylogenies in stead of fretting over what our terminal taxa
>should be?!)

Huh??  The vascular flora may be pretty well nailed down in the UK, but
we're far from finished here in the western US, where we're often working
one step ahead of the bulldozer (I realize other parts of the world are in
even worse shape, but I speak for what I have experience with).  Most
recent calculation was ca. 10 new plant taxa described per year from
California alone.  This is not a matter of philosophical shifts arguing
over microspecies (let alone the number of "i"'s), but of the magnitude of
the task in a biogeographically rich area.  I will further argue that the
parsing of biodiversity into units approximately corresponding with
idealized categories (e.g., "species") is a non-trivial, intellectually
challenging and rigorous task, even when the techniques are neither overt
nor formalized.
As a corollary, I do not agree that "having fun with phylogenies" is what
we would all prefer spending our time doing.  I like to know a bit more
about plants, and people, than their geneologies.  (p.s.: I like geneology,
too, but as one aspect among many interesting things to learn).

Barbara Ertter
Curator of Western North American Flora
University and Jepson Herbaria
University of California
Berkeley, CA  94720  USA
ertter at ucjeps.herb.berkeley.edu