Nomenclatural instability and society

[Geoffrey C. Bowker]

Here's a brief excerpt from a paper I am currently writing, with the=
 references
attached - they should provide a starting point... .


A recent author (Klemm, 1990) noted that: =20
For any given conserved tropical wildland we are confronted with a problem
roughly analogous to receiving an enormous library with no call numbers, no
card catalogue, and no librarians  and the library being in a society that=
 is
only minimally literate and not even certain that reading has much to offer.=
=20
The library is hardly more than highly flammable kindling in such a=
 scenario.
(23)=20
Indeed renaming in this context can be highly problematic: when subspecies=
 or
varieties are elevated to full species rank: =20
This may have very unfortunate consequences from a legal point of view when=
 the
species to which the subspecies or variety belonged before the nomenclatural
change is listed as a protected species, the result of the split is that the
new species looses its protected status unless the legislation is amended to
add it to the list.  (Klemm, 1990: 33; compare Lucas, p.11 on the Flora
Europaea)



Cyrille de Klemm, Wild Plant Conservation and the Law, International Union=
 for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Environmental Policy and Lw=
 Paper
No.24, Geneva: IUCN-The World Conservation Union, 1990

F.A. Bisby, G.F. Russell and R.J. Pankhurst (eds), Designs for a Global=
 Plant
Species Information System, The Systematics Association Special Volume=
 No.48,
Oxford: Clarendon, 1993.


G. L. Lucas,  =91A worldwide botanical reference system=92, 9-12.

Based list of endangered palnts on the Flora Europaea, and then got queries
from the governments: =93Why were species 1-10 not on the list?  We replied
confidently that they were now synonyms of x, y, and z, and so were covered.=
=20
But this was not good enough for the lawyers.  The species protected by
legislation were 1-10, anot x, y, and z so, therefore, please, to fulfil=
 these
users=92 needs, the former names had to be added to the list before there=
 could
be any agreement to its publication.=94 (11)

At 12:06 PM 3/11/99 , Nicolas Bailly wrote:
>Dear Taxacomers,
>
>Have you got some references about the impact of nomenclatural instability
>on the users from the whole society (lawyers, customs, etc.) ?
>
>For example, in a recent issue of Fisheries, there is a plea to work on
>mollusk phylogeny to improve the management.
>
>But I have not found a real example with data on the impact for laws or
>else of a scientific name change.
>
>Thanks a lot for help.
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------
>Nicolas BAILLY              MNHN-IGA     bailly at mnhn.fr
>Museum national d'histoire naturelle
>    Laboratoire d'Ichtyologie g=E9n=E9rale et appliqu=E9e
>            43 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
>T: 33 1 40 79 37 63  / 49 (Secr.) ; F: 33 1 40 79 37 71
>-------------------------------------------------------
>Systematics collections: look at the PARSYST Programme:
>             http://www.mnhn.fr/progsc/