The New Taxonomy A Science Reimagined

About this book

Today, molecular data is part of many biological studies, including taxonomic works. Such data is embraced by taxonomists for good reasons. When combined with comparative morphology, palaeontology, and embryology, it creates a rich, integrated overview of the history of life. This book is intended as a clear articulation of the mission, goals, and needs of fundamental taxonomists and a planetary-scale inventory of species by revisiting the idea of taxonomy as a fusion of the traditional questions asked by taxonomists and the latest technologies. It is a clear roadmap to a taxonomic renaissance and world species inventory.

Key features:
- Establishes the role and responsibilities of natural history museums in baseline taxonomic studies
- Emphasises the potential of 'descriptive' taxonomy
- Proposes a cyberinfrastructure specifically designed to meet the needs of taxonomists to do taxonomy
- Provides a clear statement of taxonomy's mission, goals, and prospects
- Reviews taxonomic philosophies and codes of nomenclature from a historical perspective

Contents

Preface / Mary P. Winsor
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction: Toward a New Taxonomy: Means, Motives, and Opportunities / Quentin D. Wheeler and David M. Williams
Chapter 2. Norman Platnick, the Development of Cladistics, ‘Integrative’ Taxonomy, and Modern Monography / David M. Williams and Anthony Gill
Chapter 3. Minimalist Species Descriptions: Are They the Answer? And if so, What Was the Question? / Gavin R. Broad
Chapter 4. The Old, the New, and Lots of People: How Taxonomy Will Thrive / Frank-Thorsten Krell
Chapter 5. Databases: Juggling Nomenclature and Taxonomy / Michael D. Guiry
Chapter 6. Zootaxonomy in the Century of Extinctions: Time for Field Work and Collections / Alain Dubois
Chapter 7. Bringing Taxonomy Back into the Spotlight / Pablo Muñoz-Rodríguez
Chapter 8. Systematics and Biogeography, Ontology, and Vicariance / Visotheary Ung and Anaïs Grand
Chapter 9. Nomenclatural Problems in Zoological Taxonomy / Alain Dubois
Chapter 10. The Survival of Taxonomy and the Digitization of Natural History Collections / Evgeny Mavrodiev, Manuel B. Crespo, and David M. Williams
Chapter 11. Taxonomy Positive / Michelle J. Price
Chapter 12. A Single Authoritative List of the World’s Species: Background and Road Map / Frank E. Zachos, Stijn Conix, Les Christidis, Aaron M. Lien, and Stephen T. Garnett
Chapter 13. Species Descriptions Go Digital / Peter Uetz and Donat Agosti
Chapter 14. Saving Systematics: Taxonomy’s Identity, Traditions, and Great Expectations / Quentin D. Wheeler

Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

David M. Williams is a diatom systematist-taxonomist. His research is divided between empirical studies on the systematics and biogeography of diatoms and theoretical studies related to advances in systematic theory, especially as it relates to cladistics. In addition to his work on diatom phylogeny, systematics, and biogeography, he has focused on the role fossils have in determining evolutionary relationships in diatoms.

Quentin D. Wheeler is an insect taxonomist, author, columnist, and podcaster. He was professor of entomology in Cornell University, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Arizona State University, Keeper and Head of Entomology at the Natural History Museum in London, Director of the Division of Environmental Biology of the U.S. National Science Foundation, and President of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.