Volume 1

Systematic biology research / Select Committee on Science and Technology.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Science and Technology Committee.
Date:
1991-2
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Systematic biology research / Select Committee on Science and Technology. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    scientific study of the kinds and diversity of organisms and of any and all relations between them”’ (G G Simpson [1961] “Principles of Animal Taxonomy’. Columbia University Press, p.7). It includes taxonomy, which is the naming and classification of all kinds of organisms ... (RBG Edinburgh p.104). The Royal Society made a similar distinction in that “Systematic biology builds on taxonomy (the systematic giving of names to specimens) to investigate relationships between organisms” (Royal Society p.111). For the purposes of this report however we do not make such a rigorous distinction between the two. The character of research 2.8 Systematic research is carried out at three levels, but most would agree that the boundaries between them are not sharp!. 2.9 Descriptive taxonomy (so-called ‘‘alpha taxonomy’’, or “classical taxonomy’’) is the base level of systematic biology, involving the first description of new species. This will normally have originated in material probably from quite a limited area, and the description and illustration of specimens. The preservation of the material on which such descriptive biology is done (pressed plant specimens, or animals preserved in fixative for example) is an important feature of such work. “Type specimens”, on which species names have been based, are regarded by systematists as particularly important as they can resolve any subsequent dispute over how the name was originally applied by its author. 2.10 Revisionary taxonomy, at various levels of sophistication (““beta-taxonomy”’), may involve a wide range of techniques of observation, and a wider range of material to give a more comprehensive basis of description and taxonomic arrangement than “alpha taxonomy’’. Such work might, for example, produce monographs reviewing all the members of a genus or a family from the whole of its geographic range. 2.11 Interpretative taxonomy (“gamma-taxonomy’’) involves a fuller exploration of the basis of relationship, often with a high level of experimental work or field observation. For example, investigating the genetic diversity within the range of a species, or the biochemical constituents of a group of closely related plants, or a study of systematic features shown only by certain stages in the life cycle of a group of organisms. Frequently this involves extensive investigation of a wide range of living specimens, with an experimental approach: perhaps breeding living organisms and studying the genetic makeup of the progeny; or exploring the immunological affinity between organisms; or using other techniques now available to biologists in the field and the laboratory, to develop new insights into relationships between organisms. Molecular biology has now brought the further possibility of studying the genetic makeup of organisms at the molecular level— obtaining the sequence of bases which characterise part of the DNA of individual organisms. This gives a unique and highly significant way of plotting and analysing the degree of relationship between individual organisms and between major groups. In some cases this technique can even be applied to the remains of extinct organisms millicns of years old. Much of the best systematic research is a combination of alpha, beta and gamma. How “original” is the research? 2.12 Evidence presented to the committee shows a wide range of views as to what constitutes “research” in the field of systematic biology. Some would regard “alpha taxonomy” as outlined above as a rather mundane activity which has been compared to stamp collecting, and not one representing the kind of intellectual challenge that would qualify it as research at all. On this view, “research”’ begins only at the level of gamma taxonomy, where there is some element of inquiry, and an application of experimental techniques or novel approaches. However, many systematists, especially in the Natural History Museum (NHM), in CAB International* (CABI), and in many museums and systematic institutes would regard primary ‘“‘alpha” taxonomic work as the very heart of systematic biology research. It is certainly essential for the study and documentation of biological diversity as we shall see in chapter 3. 2.13 These equivocal attitudes to alpha taxonomy doubtless stem from the elevation of scientific experimentation in modern scientific thinking, while in systematics much work inevitably relies on the untested opinion of other specialists. These attitudes have financial consequences for the subject. As we shall see in chapter 5 funding bodies will rarely support research proposals consisting ' These categories were set out in Taxonomy in Britain, ABRC, 1977, p.3. 2 Formerly the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau.