Abstract
Garnett and Christidis (2017) [hereafter GC] recently proposed that the International Union of the Biological Sciences should centrally regulate the taxonomy of complex organisms. Their proposal was met with much criticism (e.g. Hołyński 2017; Thomson et al., 2018), and perhaps most extensively from Raposo et al. (2017) in this journal. The main target of this criticism was GC’s call to, first, “restrict the freedom of taxonomic action”, and, second, to let social, political and conservation values weigh in on species classification. Some commentators even went as far as to draw a comparison with the infamous Lysenko-case of state-controlled and heavily restricted science (Raposo et al. 2017, 181; Hołyński 2017, 12). This comment will argue, without thereby endorsing GC’s position, that these two aspects of their views need not be as threatening as this comparison suggests, and indeed are very reasonable.
References
De Queiroz, K. (2007) Species concepts and species delimitation. Systematic Biology, 56.6, 879–86.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150701701083Frankham, R., Ballou, J.D., Dudash, M.R., Eldridge, M.D., Fenster, C.B., Lacy, R.C., Mendelson, J.R.I., Porton, I.J., Ralls, K. & Ryder, O.A. (2012) Implications of different species concepts for conserving biodiversity. Biological Conservation, 153, 25–31.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2012.04.034Garnett, S.T. & Christidis, L. (2017) Taxonomy anarchy hampers conservation. Nature, 546, 25–27.
https://doi.org/10.1038/546025aHarris, D.J. & Froufe, E. (2005) Taxonomic inflation: species concept or historical geopolitical bias? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 20 (1), 6–7.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.11.004Hołyński, R.B. (2017) Taxonomy: should it remain a serious branch of science or be transformed into a formal game? Procrustomachia, 2, 11–13.
Padial, J.M., Castroviejo-Fisher, S., Köhler, J., Vilà, C., Chaparro, J.C. & De la Riva, I. (2009) Deciphering the products of evolution at the species level: The need for an integrative taxonomy. Zoologica Scripta, 38, 431–447.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00381.xRaposo, M.A., Stopiglia, R., Brito, G., Bockmann, F.A., Kirwan, G. M., Gayon, J. & Dubois, A. (2017) What really hampers taxonomy and conservation? A riposte to Garnett and Christidis (2017). Zootaxa, 4317 (1), 179–184.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4317.1.10Satler, J. D., Carstens, B. C. & Hedin, M. (2013) Multilocus species delimitation in a complex of morphologically conserved trapdoor spiders (Mygalomorphae, Antrodiaetidae, Aliatypus). Systematic Biology, 62 (6), 805–823.
https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syt041Schlick-Steiner, B.C., Steiner, F.M., Seifert, B., Stauffer, C., Christian, E. & Crozier, R.H. (2010) Integrative taxonomy: A multisource approach to exploring biodiversity. Annual review of entomology, 55, 421–438.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-112408-085432Tal, E. (2014) Making time: A study in the epistemology of measurement. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 67 (1), 297–335.
https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axu037Thomson, S.A., Pyle, R.L., Ahyong, S., Alonso-Zarazaga, M., Ammirati, J., Araya, J.F., Ascher, J.S., Audisio, T.L., Azevedo-Santos, V.M., Bailly, N., Baker, W.J., Balke, M., Barclay, M.V.L., Barrett, R.L., Benine, R.C., Bickerstaff, J.R.M., Bouchard, P., Bour, R., Bourgoin, T., Boyko, C.B., Breure, A.S.H., Brothers, D.J., Byng, J.W., Campbell, D., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Cernák, I.,Cerretti, P., Chang, C.-H., Cho, S., Copus, J.M., Costello, M.J., Cseh, A., Csuzdi C., Culham, A., D’Elía, G., d’Udekem d’Acoz, C., Daneliya, M.E., Dekker, R., Dickinson, E.C., Dickinson, T.A., van Dijk, P.P., Dijkstra, K.-D.B., Dima, B., Dmitriev, D.A., Duistermaat, L., Dumbacher, J.P., Eiserhardt, W.L., Ekrem, T., Evenhuis, N.L., Faille, A., Fernández-Triana, J.L., Fiesler, E., Fishbein, M., Fordham, B.G., Freitas, A.V.L., Friol, N.R., Fritz, U., Frøslev, T., Funk, V.A., Gaimari, S.D., Garbino, G.S.T., Garraffoni, A.R.S., Geml, J., Gill, A.C., Gray, A., Grazziotin, F.G., Greenslade, P., Gutiérrez, E.E., Harvey, M.S., Hazevoet, C.J., He, K., He, X., Helfer, S., Helgen, K.M., van Heteren, A.H., Hita Garcia, F., Holstein, N., Horváth, M.K., Hovenkamp, P.H., Hwang, W.S., Hyvönen, J., Islam, M.B., Iverson, J.B., Ivie. M.A., Jaafar, J., Jackson, M.D., Jayat, J.P., Johnson, N.F., Kaiser, K., Klitgård, B.B., Knapp, D.G., Kojima, J.-i., Kõljalg U., Kontschán, J., Krell, F.-T., Krisai-Greilhuber, I., Kullander, S., Latella, L., Lattke, J.E., Lencioni, V., Lewis, G.P., Lhano, M.G., Lujan, N.K., Luksenburg, J.A., Mariaux, J., Marinho-Filho, J., Marshall, C.J., Mate, J.F., McDonough, M.M., Michel, E., Miranda, V.F.O., Mitroiu, M.-D., Molinari, J., Monks, S., Moore, A.J., Moratelli, R., Murányi, D., Nakano, T., Nikolaeva, S., Noyes, J., Ohl, M., Oleas, N.H., Orrell, T., Páll-Gergely, B., Pape, T., Papp, V., Parenti, L.R., Patterson, D., Pavlinov, I.Ya., Pine, R.H., Poczai, P., Prado, J., Prathapan, D., Rabeler, R.K., Randall, J.E., Rheindt, F.E., Rhodin, A.G.J., Rodríguez, S.M., Rogers, D.C., Roque, F. de O., Rowe, K.C., Ruedas, L.A., Salazar-Bravo, J., Salvador, R.B., Sangster, G., Sarmiento, C.E., Schigel, D.S., Schmidt, S., Schueler, F.W., Segers, H., Snow, N., Souza-Dias, P.G.B., Stals, R., Stenroos, S., Stone, R.D., Sturm, C.F., Štys, P., Teta, P., Thomas, D.C., Timm, R.M., Tindall, B.J., Todd, J.A., Triebel, D., Valdecasas, A.G., Vizzini, A., Vorontsova, M.S., Vos, J.M. de, Wagner, P., Watling, L., Weakley, A., Welter-Schultes, F., Whitmore, D., Wilding, N., Will, K., Williams, J., Wilson, K., Winston, J.E., Wüster, W., Yanega, D., Yeates, D.K., Zaher, H., Zhang, G., Zhang, Z.-Q., Zhou, H.-Z. (2018) Taxonomy based on science is necessary for global conservation. PLOS Biology, 16 (3), e2005075.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005075Willis, S.C. (2017) One species or four? Yes!... and, no. Or, arbitrary assignment of lineages to species obscures the diversification processes of Neotropical fishes. PLoS ONE, 12 (2), e0172349.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172349