BSC/PSC

Kenelm Philip fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu
Thu Jun 14 02:30:34 EDT 2001


> The result was the current wave of long overdue splits of species in
> order to recognize truly biological species.

Chris Durden, and I, and no doubt many others on this list were raised on
the Biological Species Concept (BSC)--but that is no longer the end of the
story. Now we have the Phylogenetic Species Concept (PSC), and the split-
ting can go even further. It is now possible for taxonomists to talk about
two 'species' which interbreed freely, but have different DNA--and state
that these 'species' have merely failed to evolve isolating mechanisms.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave..."

We are living in interesting times, taxonomically speaking--and they may
get even more 'interesting' before things settle down.

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu




 
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