Extinction vs accuracy

Ron Gatrelle gatrelle at tils-ttr.org
Mon Jan 15 23:51:47 EST 2001


OK, lets play the game. Boom, this is the first book I picked up. Opening
now to Glossary of terms. Humm, look for the E's... Ah, there they are -
extinct and extirpated - right next to each other. Humm, I see that extinct
is listed first (this must mean it is a more important term*). Here are the
definitions.
 
"Extinct: a species that no longer survives anywhere."
 
"Extirpated: a species which has become extinct in a geographic region
(such as a state) but still survives in other places."
 
Well! There we have it! I'm convinced. Therefore I (meaning others) need to
look no further.           Pause.
 
Now, is it possible that even though this was the first book _I_ picked up
that my prior knowledge of the type of book it is let me know that it most
likely had the term extirpate in it. There are a dozen others I could do
the same thing with. As a preacher I am all to aware that a seminary is a
place one goes to to learn how to debunk and explain away the other sides
theology. I once hoped that science would not be so clickish.
Unfortunately, higher education (in any field) all too often only makes
some people better con-artists**. This malady is not just limited to TV
preachers.
 
By the way I hate extinction (as I hate rape and genocide). I surely don't
hate the word!
 
Footnotes. *I know why extiNct is listed before extiRpate. **This is not
directed at Patrick in any way. I like to take individual situations and
address them from broader horizions. I editorialize.
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrick Foley" <patfoley at csus.edu>
To: <Fred.Heath at power-one.com>
Cc: "Leps-l" <Leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: Extinction vs accuracy
 
 
> Fred,
>
> The term 'extirpate' is sometimes suggested for local extinction, but not
by
> most ecologists. It has etymological problems as a synonym for local
extinction,
> as I wrote in a post yesterday. If anyone really hates the use of
'extinction'
> as local extinction, you need to convince more people than me and others
on the
> list. You need to convince the editors of numerous journals and
University
> presses.
>
> I have just pulled 18 books off the wall, classics in ecology,
biogeography and
> evolution. Looking in the indices I find
> extinction    18 times
> extirpation    0 times.
>
> I'm convinced. How about you?
>
> Patrick Foley
> patfoley at csus.edu
>
>
> "Heath, Fred" wrote:
>
> > Dear Parick,
> >         Just for my continuing education, what does the word extirpated
mean
> > in a biological sense? In my ignorance, I've always used extinct when a
> > species was totally gone worldwide and extirpated when talking about a
local
> > population. Obviously, if a local or island population is a distinct
> > subspecies (however that is defined) then the subspecies could be
extinct,
> > even though the species is still viable elsewhere.
> > ---Thanks, Fred
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Patrick Foley [SMTP:patfoley at csus.edu]
> > > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 2:14 PM
> > > To:   Ron Gatrelle
> > > Cc:   Leps-l
> > > Subject:      Re: Extinction vs accuracy
> > >
> > > Chris, Ron and others,
> > >
> > > The reason I believe there is a scientific consensus that the term
> > > extinction
> > > should apply to local populations also is that the scientific
literature
> > > is
> > > full of that usage. This is especially true of the island
biogeography and
> > > metapopulation literature, but also the population genetics
literature.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
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>
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