[Taxacom] Dark taxa: GenBank in a post-taxonomic world

[Kim van der Linde]

On 4/12/2011 6:54 PM, Richard Zander wrote:
> Interesting idea that taxonomic names may be unnecessary for certain
> research using just sequences.

That kind of research is done all the time when you want to know how 
traits developed across clades. Whatever the name is, it is irrelevant 
as long as you have a distance matrix.

> IMO taxonomic names represent scientific theories of groups in
> nature.

Sure.

> Without such theories of groups in nature, exactly what can sequences
> offer as data for research?

Distance matrices, clades, traits tracked over phylogenies, etc.

> Is it research involving a scientific theory?

Yup, testing whether a trait evolved randomly, or whether traits have 
been under directional selection in some clades and not the other.

> I think Markov chain reasoning is probably okay for some
> things, but what things given no scientific names?

Names are irrelevant for many studies.

(puts devil's horns down)

Kim