[NHCOLL-L:4894] RE: open for comment
David Richman
nmbugman at taipan.nmsu.edu
Thu Jul 22 11:16:41 EDT 2010
Exactly! I started out by being interested in the behavior and life history of jumping spiders (family Salticidae). I soon found out that the taxonomy was a mess and that even if a species was described, because of high sexual dimorphism, the other sex was likely to be unknown. So I spent a lot of my time (when I was not earning my keep by being an economic entomologist specializing in biological control) in trying to untie knotty problems of taxonomy. Molecular biology was coming into its own then, but as I enjoyed the whole organisms I finally dropped my attempt to break into electrophoresis and stuck with behavior and morphology. I did rather envy the few people who could go beyond taxonomy and systematics and spend more time with the living organisms, but there was certainly enough work to be done. Even so my species count for new descriptions stopped at 14 this year, but seven were from the United States!
David B. Richman
College Professor and Curator of the Arthropod Museum
Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003
Ph. 575 646 7082
Fax 575 646 8087
Of course the living organism is the most interesting and I think I will spend more time with such after my retirement in March.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Audrey_Barnhart at nps.gov
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 4:46 PM
To: JBRYANT at riversideca.gov
Cc: malcolm McCallum; nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu; owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:4891] RE: open for comment
AMEN! Besides, how many biologists do you know who did not enter the field
of biology without an appreciation for the tangible, living organisms?
Don't lose sight of the forest for the names of the trees.
Audrey
Audrey L. Barnhart
Curator
Fort Union Trading Post NHS
15550 Hwy 1804
Williston, ND 58801
(701)-572-9083
"Bryant, James"
<JBRYANT at riversid
eca.gov> To
Sent by: malcolm McCallum
owner-nhcoll-l at li <malcolm.mccallum at herpconbio.org>
sts.yale.edu cc
"nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu"
<nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu>
07/20/2010 12:38 Subject
PM [NHCOLL-L:4884] RE: open for
comment
Please respond to
JBRYANT at riverside
ca.gov
With respect to the biological species concept, Malcolm, I entirely concur.
Systematic biology is, ultimately, a “tool kit” for use in examining the
life histories and biogeography of the living world. It surprises me how
often the importance of the biospecies principle gets lost in discussions
of systematics, both classical and genetic. I agree with E. O. Wilson when
he says that solutions to problems like climate change and energy
conservation can all be viewed more clearly through issues related to
biodiversity, but we have to be sure what diversity we’re talking about, a
great deal of it needing to be protected and conserved before we even have
the luxury of worrying how to classify it.
James M. Bryant
Curator of Natural History
Museum Department, City of Riverside
3580 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
(951) 826-5273
(951) 369-4970 FAX
jbryant at riversideca.gov
From: malcolm.mccallum.tamut at gmail.com
[mailto:malcolm.mccallum.tamut at gmail.com] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 6:34 AM
To: Bryant, James
Cc: nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [NHCOLL-L:4875] open for comment
This will certainly be a useful publication if they meet the ICZN
guidelines. I know the ICZN used to require hard copies be printed for the
description of new species to be valid, but I think they recently changed
this. Zootaxa has been running an online journal for years and it is
currently (or last I heard) the largest journal in systematics.
The thing that bothers me is that just naming a species based on its
phylogeny is only a first step. You cannot conserve a species any more
than you can digest a book's plot by simply knowing its name and position
in the organizational scheme. There is so much more to know. If the life
histories of these organisms goes unstudied, then having a name does little
other than indicates about as much as that friend of yours who has
collected tons of books and never read a one. There is so much more to the
biology of an organism than its position in the systematic scheme.
malcolm McCallum
On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Bryant, James <JBRYANT at riversideca.gov>
wrote:
So the NMNH in Washington is touting the launching of two new on-line
journals, Zookeys (perhaps should be Zoökeys?) and Phytokeys (see
http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/smithsonian-scientists-address-world-biodiversity-crisis-innovative-online-publications
). Looks like the idea is to get taxonomic revisions and updates into
“print” as rapidly as possible. The editors claim this will not only serve
the profession but help preserve biodiversity by “providing the public with
free access to this vital information”. Any thoughts on the merits of this
approach?
James M. Bryant
Curator of Natural History
Museum Department, City of Riverside
3580 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
(951) 826-5273
(951) 369-4970 FAX
jbryant at riversideca.gov
--
Malcolm L. McCallum
Managing Editor,
Herpetological Conservation and Biology
1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert
1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss,
and pollution.
2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction
MAY help restore populations.
2022: Soylent Green is People!
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