Yes, of course I'm aware of that issue. However, I still think it is more appropriate and useful to view those differences as criteria that exist within the context of a single general concept of species. I've used a cartographic analogy to describe this situation previously (see de Queiroz, 1999, The general lineage concept of species and the defining properties of the species category, p. 64-65): in the context of the single general species concept, the various properties that are responsible for the differences among traditional species definitions ("concepts") can be viewed as criteria for deciding which species to represent in a taxonomy that function analogously to criteria that are used to decide which population centers to represent on a map. See also O'Hara (1993, Systematic generalization, historical fate, and the species problem). In addition, I've argued in a different paper (de Queiroz, 2005, A unified concept of species and its consequences for the future of taxonomy) that we should not over-emphasize one or another species criterion (as implied in David M's suggestion that authors should state which species "concept" they have adopted in the protologue) but rather list ALL of the relevant properties that the species in question is inferred both to possess and not to possess. See the section "Current Taxonomic Conventions are Inadequate" (bottom p. 209 top p. 210) in the cited paper. On 3/17/13 2:35 PM, "David Marjanovic" < david.marjanovic at gmx.at > wrote: > Points taken, but... > >> (I also don't think that most biologists really adopt different > > species concepts, though they tend to confuse operational criteria > > with concepts). > > Different criteria lead to different results. At our 2nd meeting (Yale > 2006), somebody (Yannick Bertrand, I think) gave a presentation, saying > that there are from 101 to 249 endemic bird species in Mexico, depending > on what one means by "species". That's what I mean. >
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