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To: |
David James <> |
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Subject: |
Re: albatross taxonomy |
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From: |
andrew stafford <> |
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Date: |
Sun, 27 Feb 2000 22:13:05 -0800 (PST) |
Hello all,
Many thanks are due to David James for his considered
explanation of the controversies that have engulfed
albatross taxa. To my knowledge this is the first
piece on birding-aus that has endeavoured to explain
in an even-handed manner the main sources of the
current difficulties.
These are the differences in the concept of what makes
a species (BSC: Biological Species Concept vs PSC:
Phylogenetic Species Concept), the problems that arise
with BOTH definitions, and the political motivations
behind both. Conservation is a more than worthy goal
but sometimes it only gets in the way of resolving
complex scientific problems which I am in no way
qualified to comment on.
David has asserted that no data has been used to
support Robertson and Nunn's proposals for albatross
taxa. I cannot comment on that either as I have not
seen the relevant papers (yet). However, the onus
surely falls on those proponents and advocates of the
"interim" taxonomy, including SOSSA, to re-state their
case in as much detail as they are able to provide.
Over to you then Milburn & co!
Cheers
AS
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