Ecology and Systematics

[Thomas DiBenedetto]

-----Original Message-----
From: STEPHEN MANNING
...... something I think is missing
but needed closer to our area.  This is the "Society for the Use of Ecology
in Systematics" or even "Group for the Use of Ecology in Cladistics" or "in
Taxonomy".
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Ecology is not a field that focuses on the heritable characteristics of
organisms, which are, of course, the "stock in trade" of systematics.
How about the "Group for the Use of Systematics in Ecology". Now _that_ is a
fundamentally important combination. There are of course a fair number of
scientists who would be charter members of this group - but there does seem
to be a general lack of appreciation for the notion that the phylogenetic
tree is, or should be the central organizing principle for biology in
general.

Tom DiBenedetto