[Taxacom] Why Taxonomy does NOT matter

[Bob Mesibov]

Jason Mate wrote:

"One man's noise is another man's data, tt is noise if it doesn't apply to the level you are looking at. When researchers speak of signal and noise I don't think they are making the distinction between good/bad but between useful (to me, now) and ''useless''. I think we all do this but in the case of molecular data you have to deal with the numerous characters which are simply not useful to you particular question."

I think this is obvious. My point is that signal/noise in the molecular evolution literature nearly always refers to 'phylogenetic signal' and the noise that obscures it. The 'particular question' is nearly always 'What's the tree?'

You could argue that the data collected are being well curated in GenBank so that future investigators can go rummaging through this storeroom looking for answers to other questions. That's fine, but those other questions will need a lot more than just sequence data to be answered - I'm thinking of whole-organism studies. Sequence data alone don't tell you much unless you're a one-eyed phylogeneticist, in which case you have all the info you need in sequences to generate yet another tree and publish it.

"From what I have seen and in my limited experience the noise issue is best dealt with through the 
addition of taxa. And here lies a very important contribution that classical taxonomists make. It is much more difficult to get the material than sequencing; hence lab-based research is focused on more data from the same taxa instead of closing gaps. Sometimes ''field'' taxonomists are approached by lab researchers for specimens. Often the specimens are rare, have small distributions, narrow phenologies and very specific ecologies, but the assumption out there is that one can just go to the backyard and pick them up. So the idea that ''modern'' taxonomy doesn't need classical taxonomists is spurious. The simple truth is that we give out our services for free and then are told that our services have no value."

Truer words ne'er were spoke. Even worse, some researchers will go to great lengths and great expense just to grab one living specimen of a particular species, to get the desired sequences and improve the taxon sampling on their tree. The similarity between this behaviour and that of fanatic collectors who need species X to 'complete' their beetle, butterfly or snail collection is worrying.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
Ph: (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/?articleID=570