[NHCOLL-L:5199] Re: the extinction of natural historians

[Hansen.Gayle at epamail.epa.gov]

What a comment!  In my field, the study of algae, we use both molecular 
and morphological data to derive the our phylogenetic conclusions. 
Although our textbooks use molecular data to build a framework, they still 
rely heavily on morphology and ecology to tell their stories. 

 And yes, we are still describing new species and studying their life 
histories.  Cataloging them, as expensive as it might be, is essential 
because it makes it so much easier for us to interpret their distribution 
and abundance. 

Natural history as a field is not dead -- it is just underfunded.

Gayle Hansen, Ph. D
Oregon State University





From:   "John Grehan" <jgrehan at sciencebuff.org>
To:     <FURTHD at si.edu>, <malcolm.mccallum at herpconbio.org>, 
"JPRICE at mus-nature.ca" <JPRICE at MUS-NATURE.CA>
Cc:     <NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu>
Date:   01/23/2011 08:00 PM
Subject:        [NHCOLL-L:5198] Re: :
Sent by:        owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu



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/#
 
“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 / 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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