[Sigia-l] Re: Linnaean naming system faces challengers

[Richard Hill]

[Forwarded by request.  Dick Hill]

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From: IsisInform at aol.com [mailto:IsisInform at aol.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 2:21 PM
To: rhill at asis.org
Subject: Please forward to IA list

 


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