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

[John Grehan]

The solution to all these problems is more lawyers. Its obvious.

John Grehan

On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 5:40 PM, David Campbell <pleuronaia at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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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> > Nurturing Nuance while Assaulting Ambiguity for 30 Some Years, 1987-2017.
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> Assistant Professor, Geology
> Department of Natural Sciences
> Box 7270
> Gardner-Webb University
> Boiling Springs NC 28017
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> Nurturing Nuance while Assaulting Ambiguity for 30 Some Years, 1987-2017.
>