[NHCOLL-L:5198] Re: :

[John Grehan]

So long as morphologists (morphogeneticists really) run down their work as subservient to molecular DNA theories of relationship I predict that the natural history/biology side of understanding the evolution of biodiversity will continue to be treated with relative contempt.
 
John Grehan

________________________________

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Furth, David
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 10:31 AM
To: 'malcolm.mccallum at herpconbio.org'; JPRICE at mus-nature.ca
Cc: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5197] Re: :



We systematists have recognized this "extinction" for decades, but we have been preaching to the choir.  Now with all the lab-oriented (indoor) systematics students are being taught by those who practically do not know the organisms in nature, some don't seem to want to either.  Most systematists are impassioned by being in the field, i.e. really ecologists too, and working with collections. After all, some of the most famous ecologists started as taxonomists, e.g., G. Evelyn Hutchinson, Sir Richard Southwood, etc. 

 

Hopefully some future generation will realize that they need to start over with taxonomy/systematics of whole organisms that they really want/need to know in nature; however, due to the "extinction" and the current continuing decline/loss of true natural history science it will be an expense re-start.

 

******************************************************

David G. Furth, Ph.D.

Department of Entomology

MRC 165, P.O. Box 37012

National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Institution

Washington, D. C. 20013-7012  USA

Phone: 202-633-0990

Fax: 202-786-2894

Email: furthd at si.edu

Website: www.entomology.si.edu 

 

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 3:26 PM
To: JPRICE at mus-nature.ca
Cc: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5190] Re: :

 

systematists are not dying out half as fast as those who study the natural history of the species.  

There are NSF grant programs to fund systematics and programs to fund specifically the training of systematists. 

Currently, there are NO programs to fund natural history nor to fund training natural historians. 

 

Naming an organism without describing its life history is sort of like reading the title of a book and never opening it. 

I suppose some students would not get that metaphor! :)

IF you don't know any of its life history its pretty darn difficult to implement meaningful conservation strategies. 

 

Malcolm McCallum

 

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Judith Price <JPRICE at mus-nature.ca> wrote:

Interesting post on Wired Science: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/extinction-of-taxonomists/# <http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/extinction-of-taxonomists/> 

 

"We are currently in a biodiversity crisis. A quarter of all mammals face extinction, and 90 percent of the largest ocean fish are gone. Species are going extinct at rates equaled only five times in the history of life. But the biodiversity crisis we are currently encountering isn't just a loss of species, it's also a loss of knowledge regarding them.

"Scientists who classify, describe and examine the relationships between organisms are themselves going extinct. The millions of dollars spent globally on technology to catalog species may actually be pushing out the people we rely upon: taxonomists and systematists. We're like young children frantic to add new baseball cards to our collections, while the actual creators of the baseball cards themselves are vanishing."

Judith

Judith C. Price

Secretary, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections

Assistant Collections Manager, Invertebrates / Gestionnaire adjointe des collections invertébrés

Canadian Museum of Nature / Musée canadien de la Nature

PO Box 3443 Station D / CP 3443 Succ <<D>>

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4 CANADA

Tel.613.566.4263 / Fax.613.364.4027

jprice at mus-nature.ca

@nature_jcp

www.nature.ca <http://www.nature.ca/>  / www.spnhc.org <http://www.spnhc.org/> 

 

 

 

 




-- 
Malcolm L. McCallum
Managing Editor, 
Herpetological Conservation and Biology

 

"Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation

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            and pollution.
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