What Species Mean : A User’s Guide to the Units of Biodiversity

258 Pages·2018·9.36 MB·English

by  Julia D. Sigwart

What Species Mean
A User’s Guide to the Units
of Biodiversity
SPECIES AND SYSTEMATICS
The Species and Systematics series will investigate the theory and practice of sys­
tematics, phylogenetics, and taxonomy and explore their importance to biology in a
series of comprehensive volumes aimed at students and researchers in biology and in
the history and philosophy of biology. The book series will examine the role of bio­
logical diversity studies at all levels of organization and focus on the philosophical
and theoretical underpinnings of research in biodiversity dynamics. The philosoph­
ical consequences of classification, integrative taxonomy, and future implications
of rapidly expanding data and technologies will be among the themes explored by
this series. Approaches to topics in Species and Systematics may include detailed
studies of systematic methods, empirical studies of exemplar taxonomic groups, and
historical treatises on central concepts in systematics.
Editor in Chief: Kipling Will (University of California, Berkeley)
Editorial Board
Sandra Carlson (University of California, Davis, USA)
Marcelo R. de Carvalho (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Darren Curnoe (University of New South Wales, Australia)
Malte C. Ebach (University of New South Wales, Australia)
Christina Flann (Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis, The Netherlands)
Anthonoy C. Gill (Smithsonian Institution, USA)
Mark S. Harvey (Western Australian Museum, Australia)
David R. Maddison (Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA)
Olivier Rieppel (The Field Museum, Chicago, USA)
Felix Sperling (Strickland Museum of Entomology, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
David M. Williams (The Natural History Museum, London, UK)
René Zaragüeta i Bagils (University of Paris 6, France)
Science Publisher:
Charles R. Crumly, CRC Press/Taylor and Francis
For more information visit:
www.crcpress.com/Species­and­Systematics/book­series/CRCSPEANDSYS
What Species Mean
A User’s Guide to the Units
of Biodiversity
Julia D. Sigwart
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2018 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sigwart, Julia, author.
Title: What species mean : a user’s guide to the units of biodiversity / Julia Sigwart.
Other titles: Species and systematics.
Description: Boca Raton : Taylor & Francis, 2018. | Series: Species and
systematics series
Identifiers: LCCN 2018013228 | ISBN 9781498799379 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: | MESH: Biological Evolution | Phylogeny | Biodiversity | Species Specificity
Classification: LCC QH380 | NLM QH 380 | DDC 576.8/6--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013228
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Contents
Series Preface ............................................................................................................xi
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................xiii
Author ......................................................................................................................xv
Chapter 1 Introduction ..........................................................................................1
Chapter 2 General Concepts .................................................................................7
Chapter 3 Everyone Uses Species .......................................................................11
The Advantages of Understanding Species ........................................11
Putting Names to Faces ......................................................................12
Identity Politics: When Species Matter to Us.....................................13
How to Identify Differentness ............................................................18
Differences of Opinion with Consequences .......................................20
How to Separate Species ....................................................................22
Species Criteria ..................................................................................24
Everyone Uses Species .......................................................................25
References ..........................................................................................26
Chapter 4 Why Do the Names Keep Changing? ................................................31
To Improve Is to Change ....................................................................31
Colonialism, Revision, and the Type Concept ...................................31
Taxonomic Surrogacy.........................................................................34
Names Carry Important Information .................................................35
How Do Names Change and How Can You Tell What Happened? ...37
Species Novelty and Reclassification .................................................40
The Type Concept Revisited ..............................................................44
Revision End Game ............................................................................46
References ..........................................................................................50
Chapter 5 Species Are Units of Evolution ..........................................................53
Variation .............................................................................................53
Plasticity and Adaptation ...................................................................56
Selection and Sufficiency in the Moment ...........................................59
Microevolution and Macroevolution ..................................................64
Experimental Approaches ..................................................................66
Macroevolution and Species Identity .................................................68
References ..........................................................................................70
vii
viii Contents
Chapter 6 Natural Patterns in Classification .......................................................75
Frames of Reference ...........................................................................75
Taxonomy and Systematics ................................................................77
The Linnaean System .........................................................................79
Relativism and Regulation .................................................................83
Tree Thinking .....................................................................................86
The Problem with Paraphyly (Part 1: Genera) ...................................88
The Application of Ranks ..................................................................93
The Problem with Paraphyly (Part 2: A higher problem) ..................94
Ranks and Communication ................................................................96
References ..........................................................................................97
Chapter 7 Are Species Real? .............................................................................101
Background ......................................................................................101
Species Metaphysics .........................................................................101
From Aristotle to the Origin ............................................................104
The Modern Synthesis and Beyond .................................................107
Species ‘Concepts’ Are Lines of Evidence ......................................109
Species in Time ................................................................................110
Total Evidence and the New Pluralism ............................................113
The Species Category .......................................................................115
Species Are Real; Species Descriptions Are Hypotheses ................116
References ........................................................................................118
Chapter 8 How to Name a Species ....................................................................123
Who Are the Makers of Names? ......................................................123
Pronunciation ...............................................................................125
Writing and Syntax ......................................................................126
Endings and Name Changes ........................................................128
Plural and Singular ......................................................................128
Integrity and Humility .................................................................129
History and the Role of Collections .................................................129
A Step­by­Step Guide ......................................................................132
References ........................................................................................143
Chapter 9 Biodiversity and Extinction through Time .......................................147
Extinction Is a Natural Part of Evolution .........................................147
Living ‘Fossils’ Are Still Evolving ...................................................151
Extinct Species Outnumber Living Species .....................................155
Fossils Fill the Gaps .........................................................................159
Is Diversity on Earth Decreasing?....................................................161
References ........................................................................................166
Contents ix
Chapter 10 How Many Species Are There? ........................................................171
The Great Global Census .................................................................171
Under­Studied Taxa ..........................................................................172
Approaches to Estimating Global Species Richness ........................174
Why Is this Problem so Hard? .........................................................175
The Importance of Higher Ranks ....................................................179
If It Doesn’t Have a Name, It Doesn’t Exist .....................................180
How Many Species Are Still Undiscovered? ...................................182
References ........................................................................................183
Chapter 11 Dynamic Patterns in Biodiversity ....................................................187
What Determines Biodiversity Patterns? .........................................187
Impacts of the Very Recent Past ......................................................188
Impacts of Invasive Species .............................................................191
The Latitudinal Diversity Gradient ..................................................193
Biogeographic Patterns and ‘Rules’ .................................................198
Life Is Resilient ................................................................................201
References ........................................................................................203
Chapter 12 Translating Biodiversity across Cultural Barriers ............................209
Makers and Users of Species Names ...............................................209
Misconception: Taxonomy is done by ‘someone else’ ................210
Misconception: Taxonomy is easy now, because you can just
sequence things............................................................................210
Misconception: Taxonomic papers never get cited......................211
Misconception: Biodiversity is well­known ................................212
Geographic and Cultural Divides.....................................................213
Quantifying Species Richness .........................................................215
Taxonomy Is Scientific Infrastructure ..............................................216
International Law, Biodiversity, and Benefit Sharing ......................220
International Law and the Movement of Specimens ........................223
The Fallacy of Economics ................................................................225
Cultural Ownership of Biodiversity .................................................226
References ........................................................................................228
Species and Systematics .......................................................................................233
Index ......................................................................................................................235