Is the Neotropical flora ready for the PhyloCode? |
| |
Authors: | J P Janovec L G Clark S A Mori |
| |
Institution: | (1) Institute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, 10458 Bronx, NY, USA;(2) Department of Botany, Iowa State University, 50011 Ames, IA, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Nomenclatural systems are structured around classification, and together they enable increasingly informed communication about
biological diversity. Challengers of Linnaean classification and nomenclature have proposed the PhyloCode, a new set of rules
that would govern the way systematists classify and name the diversity of life. Monographs and floras are two fundamental
vehicles for communicating information about plant diversity. These works provide a comprehensive foundation of botanical
research upon which other scientific studies are based. Information conveyed by monographs and floras is utilized directly
or indirectly both within and outside the scientific arena by a wide range of consumers, such as educators, agronomists, ecologists,
conservationists, amateur naturalists, and even lawmakers, to name a few. Both classification and nomenclature are essential
to the process of synthesis that leads to monographic and floristic treatments and the communication that they facilitate.
Conversion to a new system would have far-reaching consequences for the flow of information from systematics to other scientific
disciplines, and to society. The purposes of this article are to address the proposed conversion from the perspective of monographic
and floristic research focused on Neotropical plant diversity and to point out some difficulties in applying the PhyloCode
to the Neotropical flora. Although we welcome improvements in the current nomenclatural system, we conclude that the PhyloCode
is not prepared to replace the Linnaean system as a new way to communicate information about Neotropical plant diversity. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|