Besides biodiversity, the one thing all the talks given here have in common is scientific names. These names form the essential language, the means we use to communicate about biodiversity. To avoid a Tower of Babel, a common system of nomenclature is required: a system that is effective and efficient (and at minimal cost). Presented below are the essential aspects of this language for biodiversity and where we are in respect to their implementation.
The long-term conservation of biodiversity can only be achieved through the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) approach of "save it," "characterize it" and "use it sustainably" (sensu Dan Janzen). Characterization requires that we have a language to communicate about biodiversity: a way of describing it, so that we all know what we are talking about and that we are talking about the same things. How do we characterize biodiversity? The first step is to name its components. Biodiversity is divisible into three levels: ecological, taxonomic, and genetic. Of these levels, taxonomic diversity is critical because taxa are the units that contain genetic diversity and are the units that make up ecological diversity. As taxa are the core of biodiversity, names for taxa are the most critical component of any language of biodiversity.
AN UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF BIODIVERSITY
What are names? Names are tags. Tags are words, short sequences of symbols used in place of something complex, which would require many more words to describe. Hence, tags save time and space. Instead of a long description, we use a short tag. A scientific name differs from a common name in that the scientific name is a unique tag. In other languages, there may be multiple tags for the same thing. Imagine the various words in English that are used to describe Homo sapiens. In computer (database) jargon, data elements that are used to index information are termed keys, and keys that are unique are called primary keys. Scientific names are primary keys. The word "key"; has another meaning in English, which is, "something that unlocks something." Think of scientific names as those critical keys that unlock biosystematic information, all that we know about living organisms. To reiterate: scientific names are tags that replace descriptions of objects or, more precisely, concepts based on objects (specimens). Scientific names are unique, there being only one scientific name for a particular concept, and each concept has only one scientific name.
Scientific names are more than just primary keys to information. They represent hypotheses. To most systematists, this is a trivial characteristic that is usually forgotten and thereby becomes a source of confusion later. To most users, this is an unknown characteristic that prevents them from obtaining the full value from scientific names. If a scientific name were only a unique key used for storing and retrieving information, it would be just like a social security number. Homo sapiens is another unique key used to store and retrieve information about man, but that key also places the information about man into a hierarchical classification. Hierarchical classifications allow for the storage at each node of the hierarchy of the information common to the subordinate nodes. Hence, redundant data, which would be spread throughout a nonhierarchical system, are eliminated. Biological classifications, however, do more than just hierarchically store information. Given that one accepts a single common (unique) history for life and that our biological classifications reflect this common history in their hierarchical arrangement, then biological classifications allow for prediction: To predict that some information stored at a lower hierarchical node may belong to a higher node, that is, is common to all members of the more inclusive group. These predictions take the form of: If some members of a group share a characteristic that is unknown for other members of the same group, then that characteristic is likely to be common to all members of the group. So scientific names are tags, unique keys, hierarchical nodes, and phylogenetic hypotheses. Thus systematists pack a lot of information into their names and users can get a lot from them.
Scientific names are hypotheses, not proven facts. Systematists may and frequently do disagree about hypotheses. Hypotheses, which in systematics range from what is a character to what is the classification that best reflects the history of life, are always prone to falsification, and, hence, change. Disagreements about classification can arise from differences in paradigm and/or information. Systematists use different approaches to construct classifications, such as cladistic versus phylogenetic versus phenetic methods. Given the same set of data that underlies a given hierarchy, cladists can derive classifications different from those derived by the phenetists (Fig. 1). Even among cladists, there can be differences as to the rank (genus, family, order, etc.) and thereby the hierarchical groups used. These are disagreements based on paradigm. There can be disagreement about the hypotheses that underlie the information used to construct the classifications, such as what are the characters. And disagreement can arise among systematists because they use different information. While disagreements will affect the ability to predict, they need not affect the ability to retrieve information. The desirable attribute that must be preserved to ensure complete access to information across multiple classifications is uniqueness. Our scientific nomenclature must guarantee that any scientific name that is used in any classification is unique among all classifications. This can be assured by having two primary keys. Unfortunately, having two keys increases the overhead of our information systems. So most systematists and all users want to avoid this problem by mandating that there be only one classification. Although in theory there is only one correct classification as there was only one history of life, in reality there have been multiple classifications in the past, there may be multiple classifications in use today, and there will be multiple classifications in the future. That is the price of scientific progress, of the increase in our knowledge of the world. If information is to be retrieved across time, that is, if we want to extract information stored under obsolete classifications, and if we want to avoid dictating "the correct" classification, then we need a nomenclatural system that supports two unique keys.
The two keys for our language of biodiversity are the valid name and the original name. The valid name is the correct name for a concept within a classification; the original name is the valid name in the classification in which it was proposed. Valid names may be different among classifications, but the original name is invariant across classifications (Table 1). Valid names are the best names to use as they provide the full value of scientific names. These are the names that provide a basis for prediction. The original name is useful only for information retrieval across multiple classifications. Although valid and or
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<a href='http://Apiaceae.github.io/blog/2009/04/23/%E5%90%8D%E7%A7%B0%EF%BC%9A%E7%94%9F%E7%89%A9%E5%A4%9A%E6%A0%B7%E6%80%A7%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%80%E6%8A%8A%E9%92%A5%E5%8C%99/'>http://Apiaceae.github.io/blog/2009/04/23/%E5%90%8D%E7%A7%B0%EF%BC%9A%E7%94%9F%E7%89%A9%E5%A4%9A%E6%A0%B7%E6%80%A7%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%80%E6%8A%8A%E9%92%A5%E5%8C%99/</a><br/>
written by <a href='http://Apiaceae.github.io'>Hooker</a>
posted at <a href='http://Apiaceae.github.io'>http://Apiaceae.github.io</a>
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