The Systematist Newsletter of the Systematics Association Winter 2003 Number 22 www.systass.org Reg. Charity No. 270429 contributions I would particularly Editorial like to thank the officers, Donald Letter from the Quicke, David Williams, Geraldine Reid, Zofia Lawrence and Gordon President Curry for their tremendous com- You are reading the new, enhanced bined expertise in helping run the version of the SA Newsletter, with a formal side of the organisation. I This is the last letter that I write for better layout and much more con- would also like to thank Alan the newsletter before handing over tent. We aim to provide our mem- Warren, as Editor-in-Chief, Eileen at the AGM in December to my bership with interesting material to Cox for the programme committee, worthy successor, Dr Barrie stimulate debate and discussion . Tim Littlewood for presiding over Leadbeater. Naturally, my main task In this issue the hugely successful the Grants and Awards Committee, is to thank all of those people that Dublin Biennial of the late summer the webmaster, Rupert Wilson, and have given their services to the is reviewed by both organisers and Messrs Robert Hirt, David Horner Association over the last three years delegates, revisiting some of the key and Russell Seymour for so ably and who have helped me run the ideas for the future of Systematics. organising and running the young various projects that we have under- In particular, Quentin Wheeler's arti- systematists forum. taken. When I became President I cle is well worth a read. Do check It might seem to some that my was simply amazed at how much out Chris Humphries' final 'Letter most unenviable task was presiding over two biennial meetings. However, it has been a pleasure to Inside the Winter Issue work with all of the individuals who have given so much of their time to both enterprises. Although it is Transforming Taxonomy p. 3 invidious to single out names The Problem with Biogeography p. 6 because so many members and visi- News p. 10 tors contributed to the success of both meetings; the London meeting Quo Vadis p. 14 would have not have worked with- Book Review p. 15 out Vilma Bharatan who did so Student Report p. 17 much to make everyone feel at BackPage p. 22 home. Also in Dublin during August SA Business p. 22 2003 Steve Waldren, Trevor Hodkinson and John Parnell and their colleagues ran a wonderful 4th the Association had developed since from the President' and review of Biennial Conference at Trinity I had previously been on council in the Biennial, excellent reminders of College, Dublin. For both meetings its chosen role as a professional the how Association has progressed I would like especially to thank Tim organisation helping its own profes- and developed under Chris's presi- Littlewood for his skill and sense of sionals and encouraging and nurtur- dency. This newsletter looks for- humour that he brought to the job of ing newcomers to the broad field of ward to reporting a continuation of chairman of the judges, and my spe- systematics. In addition to all of the such development in Barrie cial thanks of course go to our councillors for their enthusiastic Leadbeater’s coming term. Treasurer, Gordon Curry, who's The Systematist 2003 No. 22 1 undoubted monetary skills made the considerable wealth of curiosity House of Commons and replies both meetings profitable, trou- and imagination too much analysis were also made, but there was little bleshoot currency exchanges and in the ‘black box’ rather than in the in the way of genuine new interest generally balance the books. basics with pen and paper are appar- recorded, but merely desultory sup- The quality of the work and the ent. There is so much to be achieved port and very little increase in over- large number of students and young in general systematic theory, espe- all funding to systematics. post-doctoral fellows that attend our cially the underlying principles of However, I am happy to report biennial and other meetings is testi- systematic analysis, homology and that one of the stated aims of the mony to the fact that the Association biogeography, that I worry this is report was for the Linnean Society is going someway in the direction causing our students to losing grip and the Systematics Association to on the basics of our subjects. work more closely. Its first achieve- Furthermore, it is worth noting that ment, through the efforts of Tim some of the fears of my predecessor, Littlewood and Richard Bateman, Peter Forey, about the Phylocode the two two societies have pro- still appear in the literature, which duced a combined grants and means that it is quite apparent that awards scheme, of which more many young turks are 'victims of details will be given in the next ambition' to cite Løvtrup's colourful round of calls later this year. phrase rather than becoming well Finally, it is important to note that rounded systematists cogniscent in our publication procedures are all of the necessary branches of the changing as a result of Taylor and subject. The phylocodists have Francis buying up CRC publishing shown a rather dismaying trend that in the USA. In the future, book pub- is beginning to appear in a number lication for Taylor and Francis, of fields that politics runs roughshod including the Association's publica- over science in the efforts to capture tions will cease to be based in President: Christopher J. Humphries the middle ground rather than by London but will be processed that we all wish to go, and despite reasoned debate and exposing pop- instead by CRC publishers in the obvious difficulties of finding ulist myth. Florida. The Editor-in-Chief and the ways of resourcing projects there is The President's business has not treasurer have been pursuing the no lack of imagination amongst all only concentrated on the biennial ramifications of a shift in production of the players. The quality of symposia but also the various across the pond and the Treasurer research, talks and papers is out- national initiatives that have taken recently has received the revised standingly high amongst the partici- place in the last three years. These instructions for editors of sympo- pants and the students and young post-doctoral fellows particularly. During the last three years there has House of Lords transcripts can be found at been copious output of empirical www.systass.org/systass-lords-transcript.html papers on all manner of groups in the literature. I am glad that the include attempts to raise awareness sium volumes. Association caters for a wide range in the perceived decline of systemat- All in all, I have spent a happy of disciplines in zoology, protistolo- ics in a shrinking scientific budget three years with the Association and gy, botany, palaeontology and para- and the seemingly cavalier attitudes the work has shown me that to run a sitology etc. despite rather biased of funding bodies to the plight of successful organisation it is neces- interests towards higher plant sys- systematics in the UK and else- sary to keep on top of the issues all tematics and catering for the expo- where. To this end it was an inter- of the time. I hope you feel that I nential growth in molecular system- esting opportunity to participate in have done my little bit towards this atics. Undoubtedly amongst the con- Baroness Walmesley's debate on the end, and like my predecessor I will siderable interests that I have seen science underpinning research in be back to haunt you from time to develop it is rather illuminating that biodiversity. Besides supplying writ- time starting as of now, with the investigations have erred on the ten evidence, I also sat in front of editing of the databases meeting. technological and algorithmic sides the subcommittee with the President of achievement rather than in the of the Linnean Society to give ver- Chris Humphries epistemological and theoretical. I bal evidence in February 2002. NHM, London think it is worth noting that despite Subsequent presentations to the The Systematist 2003 No. 22 2 Transforming Taxonomy Quentin D. Wheeler Departments of Entomology and Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA Using traditional methods, tax- more difficult is a needed change in cent of the arbitrary quantitative onomists have documented about the taxonomic paradigm. We need to definitions of species proposed by 1.7 million species in 245 years. be international where we have been pheneticists in the 1970s that proved Assuming 8.3 million species provincial. We need to act as a com- evolutionarily impotent. remain to be described (an admitted munity where we have been fiercely Morphology remains important guess) and a rate of progress equal independent individuals. We need to for numerous reasons. It makes fos- to the average of the post-Linnaean reinvent morphology-based taxono- sil and extant species comparable. It period, we will need 1196 years to my at a time when all forces are reveals patterns in need of evolu- complete the job. If any of the pushing the field increasingly tionary explanation. It's characters gloomy prognostications about toward the molecular. And we must are efficient summaries of thousands species extinction are even approxi- embrace the molecular as an impor- of DNA base-pairs and the objects mately true (e.g. Wilson 1992), we tant tool for identifications and phy- of natural selection. It makes Nature shall have missed many of the logeny reconstructions, but do so in accessible to laypersons. It facili- world's species, possibly including a a way that is intellectually balanced.