Groves on the species concept 13 Sep 2009 Colin Groves, the primatologist from the ANU who does a lot of systematics, has an interview on the topic of species here at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio show “Ockham’s Razor”. The podcast will be up in due course. One thing I must dispute with Colin is that there even is a phylogenetic species concept. But that’s for another day… Late note: Listen to the show here. Species concept Systematics
Book “Species” an ALA Choice Book 15 Jan 2011 I take what plaudits I can: Choice, from The American Library Association, has listed my book Species: A History of the Idea as an “Outstanding Academic Title” for 2010, a list they release each each January. Their criteria are: overall excellence in presentation and scholarship importance relative to other literature… Read More
Metaphysics On hierarchies 29 Jun 200922 Jun 2018 We often make an appeal to hierarchical relations, in social and political discourse, in religion, in metaphysics (or that odd part of it called mereology) and more recently in social behaviour in animals, called ethology. But what we don’t do much is discuss what it is that a hierarchy is,… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity How many species of plant are there? 3 Jan 2011 It should be a simple question. After all, we have been describing, naming, and studying species of plants for 500 years, and the whole system of nomenclature and classification was developed in order to list plants. Estimate range widely, from 200,000 to nearly 300,000 or even 400,000 [also here] and… Read More
“One thing I must dispute with Colin” Why do some bloggers use the first names of the authors of papers/articles or the person being interviewed? Is it not conventional to use just the last name or both when discussing a colleague’s work? As well, Jerry Coyne tends to use first names: “According to Richard, both he and Armstrong were commissioned to write on the topic. . . .” whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/dawkins-17-armstrong-0/
it depends, I think, on whether they are known personally to you or not. People I know I tend to use their first name.