[NHCOLL-L:1950] RE: Ironic quotes from Bioscience

[Bob Glotzhober]

PLEASE NOTE.  Thacker is not saying (at least not in this quote) that taxonomy "should" take a nosedive.  He is merely stating a historical fact that it has nosedived!  This has previously been commented on by a number of scientists who are taxonomists.  We need to remain vocal if we want to improve a public awareness (and equally important a legislative opinion) that taxonomists and collections are indeed important as we look at biological diversity at a time when that diversity we cherish is dwindling so rapidly.  I think one of the best ways to do this is to share our knowledge and excitement with amateur naturalists, and help create more amateur naturalists out of the "common people."

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Elaine Hoagland [SMTP:elaine at cur.org]
> Sent:	Tuesday, June 17, 2003 3:21 PM
> To:	NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	[NHCOLL-L:1948] Ironic quotes from Bioscience
> 
> Paul D. Thacker, 2003.  Morphology: The Shape of Things to Come.
> Bioscience, June 2003/Vol. 53, no. 6, pp 544-549.  Quote from Page 545:
> 
> "As molecules became more important, traditional taxonomy, with its reliance
> on large specimen collections, became an antiquated backwater.  It recalled
> too many memories of 20th century naturalists, butterfly catchers, and John
> Steinbeck's "Doc" -- a marine biologist who collected specimens off the
> rocks on Cannery Row.  Many of the gene jockeys questioned whether taxonomy
> was ever a science at all.
> As if in response to this growing concensus, financing for taxonomy took a
> nosedive.  Traditional taxonomists, those who have full knowledge of a
> single taxon, are now in short supply."
> 
> (Paul Thacker is a freelance science writer.  Clearly, he is not a
> taxonomist.)
> 
> 
> Robert E. Gropp, 2003.  Are University Natural Science Collections Going
> Extinct?  Bioscience, June 2003/Vol. 53, no. 6, p 550:
> 
> "...the chancellor of the University of Nebraska has announced the
> elimination of several collections ad all research divisions at UNSM.
> Museum supporters have not capitulated, however.  In early May, amid growing
> faculty tension and national media attention, the chancellor announced he
> would put his planned cuts to a vote of the faculty.  If a majority agree
> with the chancellor's budget plan, it will take effect; if not, he will
> resign, he says, and university deans will make budget cuts."
> 
> (I hope the faculty members don't read Thacker before they vote.)
> 
> Elaine
>