[Taxacom] Binomial Nomenclature - was: "cataloguing hypotheses & not real things"

[Rafaël Govaerts]

Although I'm not against showing different (current) taxonomies; at least in botany this is barely an issue. When bringing together most taxonomic experts to review a Myrtaceae checklist there was taxanomic disagreement on 0.01 % of names and when notified about this the taxonomists quickly agreed. So I can now say with confidence that 100% of Myrtaceae taxonomists agree with the species concepts as available on the World checklist (WCSP). That does not mean there are no errors in the data or synonymy we missed but there is no current alternative taxonomy. This to me seems the result of the other favorite subject of taxonomists - the lack of alpha-taxonomists- You are lucky to find one expert or consortium for a taxonomic group let alone two. So this only becomes an issues for "popular" families.
The most extreme case of competing taxonomies (and that is only at generic leve)l is between GrassBase (traditional) and GrassWorld (Phylogeny based) and a recent paper by Maria Vorontsova from GrassBase showed to there was only 11% difference in accepted species, which surprised even me.
So although in Botany a lot (well probably less than 11%) of names have changed in the past 20 years I am not convinced that there are many current competing taxonomies. It is true that users often use the name they know and not do the effort to check COL or others but I strongly contest that there is much disagreement among Botanists and therefore I also see no need for alternative naming systems.
Showingdifferent taxonomies to me seems more an IT task than a scientist's.
Rafaël

________________________________________
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Ashley Nicholas [Nicholasa at ukzn.ac.za]
Sent: 04 September 2013 15:41
To: Curtis Clark; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Binomial Nomenclature - was: "cataloguing hypotheses & not real things"

Hi Curtis -- I agree fully. That is why I think that multiple approaches/solutions/hypotheses should be encouraged. That is why I do not like the one size fits all option that is being pushed. There is room for both a non-hierarchical evolutionary based monomial system and a classification using binomials (and descriptions and keys). I think in both mediums (and benefit enormously from the fact I do this). A monomial system without keys would have made it impossible for me to key out that plant that poisoned those two boys. I did it the old fashion (useful way). However, as an evolutionist I also know that old fashioned classifications are hugely problematic in actually understanding the origin and diversity of organisms. Why is there not room for both? If I can work simultaneously in both constructs -- I am sure others can too. Dictatorial lists of names in current use are an anathema to me as they go against the very way empirical science should work.

Cheers
Ashley

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Curtis Clark
Sent: 04 September 2013 16:19
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Binomial Nomenclature - was: "cataloguing hypotheses & not real things"

On 2013-09-04 4:21 AM, Ashley Nicholas wrote:
> Great quote with some truth. But if the choice is between being logical and being illogical -- I think I will choose logic thank you.

It concerns me that there is not so much emphasis on "useful".

--
Curtis Clark        http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark
Biological Sciences                   +1 909 869 4140
Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona CA 91768


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Celebrating 26 years of Taxacom in 2013.