taxonomy, science or garbage....?????

[Mako Mark]

I believe that taxonomy is an art, not a science. It is purely subjective and you cannot compartmentalise a population.

It is also the main reason that I quit bio-sciences.. that and the smell of formaldehyde in the zoo building.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

To add fuel to this -

The famous NZ physicist Rutherford once quipped:

“There’s two types of science: physics, and stamp collecting”

The more I read the geological and biological journals the more I think he’s right..

I agree – there’s an art or craft to any identification, and there’s always a battle between the ‘lumpers’ and the ‘splitters’: I have a similar, if not greater, problem identifying palaeontological samples. What was it exactly that cheezed you off?

BTW: When I was a wide eyed enthusiastic 16 year old I wanted to be a marine biologist when I grew up so I was thrilled to get 4 weeks work experience at the Antarctic Centre: but I spent every single day sorting krill by age and sex and I can still, 20 years later, smell the formaldehyde. This was a formative event in my becoming a geologist.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Mako Mark]

yup, formaldehyde was the main reason I became a geomorphologist.

I think it was the formaldehyde and the three year old hagfish in it that pissed me off...

 

[Warthaug]

I believe that taxonomy is an art, not a science. It is purely subjective and you cannot compartmentalise a population.

It is also the main reason that I quit bio-sciences.. that and the smell of formaldehyde in the zoo building.

That's why we invented cladistics. Instead of grouping organisms on appearances we group them based on genetic simularity. Much more accurate. Really pisses off the old-fashioned guys though.

As for the formaldehyde, that's largely gone now. Something to do with liver damage and cancer. Now we have safer stuff that smells far, far worse :shakehead

Bryan

 

[drbill]

Warthaug hits the nail on the head, although cladistics is still somewhat subjective at least the basis is linked to the underlying genetic structure instead of the phenotypic expression.

 

[radinator]

That's why I picked physics from the start. I didn't like stamp collecting.

 

[Warthaug]

That's why I picked physics from the start. I didn't like stamp collecting.

Wool-collecting is a little more your style then?

 

[drbill]

Ultimately biology is a science based on physics... and chemistry. I used to start off my classes in astronomy (freshman) and evolution (upper levels) with the concept of nucleosynthesis in stellar interiors.