2021
DOI: 10.1007/s13127-021-00495-y
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Towards a global list of accepted species I. Why taxonomists sometimes disagree, and why this matters

Abstract: Taxonomy-the delimitation, naming, classification and documentation of species and other taxa-is an often-misunderstood discipline. Complex and at times contested, taxonomy occupies a sometimes discomforting intermediate position on a continuum from descriptive to hypothetico-deductive science. Two aspects of taxonomy that are striking to many observers and users are the degree to which taxonomists often disagree, and the degree of taxonomic revisionism (the replacement of one taxonomic classification with ano… Show more

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Cited by 30 publications
(25 citation statements)
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“…But taxa are represented by many more individual organisms in nature than the type specimen(s). The full set of organisms regarded by a taxonomist as comprising a taxon depends on a variety of factors, ranging from alternative species concept definitions to purely subjective interpretations by different taxonomists (Thiele et al, 2021). The link between a particular scientific name and the taxon it is intended to represent is, at best, imprecise.…”
Section: A List Of What Exactly?mentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…But taxa are represented by many more individual organisms in nature than the type specimen(s). The full set of organisms regarded by a taxonomist as comprising a taxon depends on a variety of factors, ranging from alternative species concept definitions to purely subjective interpretations by different taxonomists (Thiele et al, 2021). The link between a particular scientific name and the taxon it is intended to represent is, at best, imprecise.…”
Section: A List Of What Exactly?mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Inevitably, disputes in how some taxa should be represented on the global list will emerge. Such disputes are an inherent and not necessarily undesirable aspect of taxonomic practice (Thiele et al, 2021). Mechanisms for the arbitration of such disputes depend on which fundamental model is adopted for content creation and curation.…”
Section: Arbitrating Taxonomic Disagreementsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…A key problem is that taxonomists necessarily divide the complex patterns of variation into simplified, discrete, and named units (taxa), which governments and the community then use to manage and understand biodiversity, one of the most complex systems we know. This has three consequences (Thiele et al, 2021): firstly, some diversity necessarily gets lost in the system; secondly, there are sometimes several to many possible taxonomies, none of which is entirely correct; and thirdly, many users are unaware of these nuances. A potential solution is to subdivide the taxa even further into evolutionarily significant units (Moritz, 1994)populations or groups of populations definable by measurably different allele frequencies-and use these as the basis for conservation etc.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%