Principios de Taxonomia

withvaryingmeanings.Itiscertainlyunclearwhatisactuallymeantbyaberratio.Three
terms would be sufficient to designate intraspecific types, thus unequivocally labeling
the polymorphic diversity within a gene-flow community. The three terms are race,
morph and mutant. Any further designations are superfluous for mutual communication,
as well as for the understanding of their evolutionary origin or relevance.
5.4
What are Races or Subspecies?
5.4 What are Races or Subspecies?j97
The term race is synonymous to subspecies. The concept of a race in biology is
frequently misunderstood (Sesardic, 2010). To understand the significance of the
term race, it is more meaningful to first define what a race is not. Races are not groups
of individuals that are phylogenetically closely related, whereas more distantly related
groups would be a discrete species. It is a common misperception of species and race
to consider them as concepts dependent solely on the phylogenic distance.
If this were true, every species that was evolutionarily old enough could be divided
into races. However, there are several species for which races do not exist, although
there are populations that have a certain phylogenic distance. This awareness
elucidates that there must be something more than the phylogenic distance that
allows a population to be defined as a race. These are race-specific trait differences
that allow a diagnostic separation of the race from the rest of the species. If there are
no diagnostic race attributes, then there are no races. Such race attributes are a type of
license plate.
This argument makes clear that, in contrast to a species, a race is typologically
defined. It completely depends on a human sorting effort regarding whether some
characteristic traits are selected and are considered to declare a subpopulation of a
species to be a race. As defined purely typologically, a race is a class (Chapter 3). Races
do not exist as such in nature; instead, they are mental constructs that depend on
human perception and decision. There are almost unlimited numbers of possibilities
for human classification efforts to single out a number of individuals within a species
by the similarity of one or a few particular traits. The decision which of these
thousands of subgroups within a species is accepted to be a race, depends on a
human-made measure of value. Races as distinct groups are not provided by nature
but instead only reflect the human principle of order.
Races are subpopulations that differ from one another by specific adaptations to the
local environment. Well-known races are human races that are mainly distinguished
from each other by skin and hair color and by the structure of the face. Skin and hair
color are clear adaptations to the intensity of solar radiation (Rosenberg et al., 2002).
Because there are only weak reproductive barriers between individuals of different
races, it is a defining characteristic of the race that its individuals merge if they come in
contact.Raceswoulddisappearifindividuals ofdifferentraceslived incloseproximity.
Therefore,racescanexistonlyunderthenecessaryconditionofgeographical distance.
Races can only arise and be maintained if the geographical distance exceeds a
certain limit. Otherwise, races would merge. Across short geographical distances,