[Sigia-l] Linnaean naming system faces challengers

[IsisInform at aol.com]

Hi Eric and the ASIS&T IAs

Thanks for alerting us to the article about the PhyloCode.  Their website logo is a cladogram, which is the organizational structure used in cladistics, an alternate method for organizing biologic information.  I won’t go into the various advantages and disadvantages of taxonomy vs. cladistics.  My theory of information organization is to build the structure for the specific client.  Even biologists require more than one way to organize their information.

According to Ernst Mayr, in “The Growth of Biological Thought,” a cladogram is “a series of dichotomies depicting the successive splits of the phyletic lines” (common ancestors).  As I write this, I am looking at a cladogram in which one diagonal line has single lines branching off in the opposite diagonal.  It’s similar to a series of decreasing nested triangles.     

Cladograms are not a model for organizing non-biologic information.  They are designed for a specific type of biologic information.  In addition, they are unnecessarily complicated while a hierarchy offers almost instant knowledge.  We intuitively recognize the rationale of successive hierarchical steps.  In Wendy’s post, she said she admired the simplicity and logic of the Linnaean system.  That’s why it has been successful for 250 years.  

Some of the problems identified by the PhyloCode people are actually problems of maintenance.  In binomial nomenclature, each species is named for both genus and species.  Thus the domestic dog is Canis familiaris and the wolf is Canis lupus.  Names actually encompass two levels in the hierarchy.  If you make a change in hierarchical placement, you also have to give the species a whole new name!  The article specifically mentions a genus in the rose family.  Because of the binomial naming protocol, an accurate renaming of this genus would require the renaming of a lot of other plants, including strawberries, which would definitely be controversial.  

Of course, most information taxonomists are not using binomial nomenclature in their structures, so we don’t have to worry about completely changing labels every time we make a change to the system.  However there is a lesson for us here.  Simplicity is best.  When you start getting fancy, you run into trouble.  Your design should be a clear organizational system that reflects logical relationships and maintains structural integrity during revisions.          

By the way, is anyone else on this list using AOL?  If yes, please contact me off list.  I need some help figuring out how to post to certain types of lists.  Thanks!



Katherine
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Katherine Bertolucci
Taxonomy and Information Management Consultant
Isis Information Services
P O Box 627
Phoenix, AZ 85001
602-258-2035
isisinform at aol.com