Principios de Taxonomia

12j 2 Why is there a Species Problem?
(Mishler, 1999). However, indistinct borders do not seem to contradict the existence
of species. If species did not exist, it would not even be possible to speak of
the boundaries between them. Colors are not sharply delimited from each other;
blue merges rather smoothly into green, but hardly anyone would draw the
conclusion that colors do not exist.
2.3
What Makes Biological Species so Special?
The species as a taxonomic unit has been one of the most controversial topics in
biology for over 150 years. As an article in EMBO Reports from 2000 states, Modern
biology has many triumphs to celebrate, but a generally applicable species definition
is not among them (Martin and Salamini, 2000). The authors go on to state, It is
perhaps biology s most grotesque concession that 140 years after the publication of
Darwin s The Origin of Species we still do not know exactly what those things are
whose origin the theory of evolution explains.
There is hardly a biological topic that is as controversial as the concept of
biological species (Mallet, 1995). Opinions on the subject of the species problem
range from this all is nothing new to this all doesn t help or I consider this
matter purely pragmatic right up to publications with titles such as A radical
solution to the species problem (Ghiselin, 1974) and the observation that the
quarrel about the correct species concept can attain dimensions similar to a
religious war (Peters, 1998).
Why is the biological species so special? If the matter is considered purely
pragmatic, why do two bird watchers argue passionately about whether a bird they
have just seen belongs to one species rather than another? Two geographers would
never argue with such passion about whether a mountain peak they are viewing
belongs to one mountainous massif or to the adjacent mountain range.
This everyday observation already encompasses the assumption that humans
approach species with preformed expectations (Atran, 1999). Humans appear to hold
the firm belief that there are species in nature; just as we believe that the sun rises in the
morning (see below). As early as half a millennium ago, Copernicus taught us that the
sun does not rise, but we nevertheless perceive that it does, and we follow this
perception even in our everyday language. Over 150 years ago, Darwin put forth the
conviction that the biological species is a human construct, a position that is now
presented again by many biologists and biophilosophers (Heywood, 1998), but we still
believe unshakably that there are fixed species in nature that exist as natural entities.
More often than they do with other scientific problems, scientists dealing with the
species problem encounter a complete lack of understanding rather than difficulties
of comprehension or indifference (i.e., what is this all about? ). The species problem
is less a matter of complication than a matter of acceptance. On a daily basis, there are
no significant problems that involve the concept of species. Therefore, many
people, even many biologists, do not understand that there is a species problem,
meaning that even experts do not agree what a species actually is. The issue is not how