[Taxacom] OK Taxacomers, you have had your chance, now it's the lawyers turn.

[David Campbell]

Any differences between organisms can be taken as potential evidence of
reproductive isolation - what qualifies under one species concept can be
argued to fit the biological species concept.  Select the right criterion,
and it shouldn't be hard to allocate individuals.  Thus, the wording alone
of the petition is not the problem, but rather that, given the source, the
intent is "you haven't proven that they can't interbreed, so they shouldn't
be protected" or "my criteria don't separate them 75% of the time, so they
aren't subspecies"  For example, given the physical similarity and low
population size, red wolves do hybridize with coyotes.  That's already
invoked as an excuse to remove protection (and protections are being
removed anyway - political influence, not majority opinion or biological
reality, is the driving factor).

On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 5:38 PM, Beach, James H. <beach at ku.edu> wrote:

> Lawyers decide the definition of 'species'.
>
> From the article:
>
> Today, PLF and several allied organizations submitted a petition for
> rule-making<https://pacificlegal.org/wp-content/
> uploads/2017/11/ESA-Taxonomy-Rulemaking-Petition.pdf> to the [U.S.]
> federal agencies that administer the Endangered Species Act.
>
> ...
>
> Our petition seeks an end to the arbitrariness [of what a species is]
> through the setting of clear, scientifically defensible and politically
> sensible definitions for the statutory terms "species" and "subspecies."
> The petition recommends that, for the former, the longstanding and
> well-regarded biological species concept be adopted, according to which a
> species is delimited by reproductive isolation. For the latter, the
> petition asks for the adoption of a variant of the equally longstanding
> "75% rule," pursuant to which individuals within a species must be
> diagnosed accurately at least 75% of the time as belonging to putative
> Subspecies A or B or C, etc., using genetic or other biologically
> significant characters.
>
>
> https://pacificlegal.org/a-petition-to-resolve-the-endangered-species-act-
> taxonomy-debate/
>
>
>
>
> James H. Beach
> Biodiversity Institute
> University of Kansas
> 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
> Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
> Office: 785-864-4645
> Cell: 785-331-8508
> Zoom: https://kansas.zoom.us/my/specify
>
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>



-- 
Dr. David Campbell
Assistant Professor, Geology
Department of Natural Sciences
Box 7270
Gardner-Webb University
Boiling Springs NC 28017