Is it time to abandon the biological species concept? No.
Is it time to abandon the biological species concept? No.
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DOI：
10.1093/nsr/nwaa109
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发表时间：
2020-08
影响因子：
20.6
通讯作者：
Stankowski S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Butlin RK;Stankowski S
《牛津英语词典》将概念定义为“一类对象的想法，一个一般概念”。从这个定义可以看出，如果一个概念的预测与观察不一致，就不能像拒绝一个假设那样拒绝一个概念。相反，一个概念必须根据其启发价值来判断：它是否有助于理解自然世界？生物物种概念（BSC）旨在帮助理解生物多样性，特别是普遍观察到的有性繁殖生物体以或多或少不同的表型和遗传簇存在，而不是以连续的形式存在。它通过将注意力集中在群体内成功的杂交与群体之间的生殖隔离之间的对比来实现这一点。不同的群体可以通过其他方式形成，并且可以发生在缺乏正常有性生殖的生物体中。这导致了多样性单位的替代概念化 [1, 2]。然而，在 BSC 引入和正式化 80 多年之后，每本生物学教科书和讲座课程都强调了 BSC [3, 4]，这一事实证明了它的持续实用性。也许最重要的是，生物安全委员会确定了一个研究计划，通过将物种形成过程与生殖隔离的进化等同起来来了解生物多样性的起源。自新达尔文主义综合以来，这一直是进化生物学大量研究的基础，这使得人们对物种和物种形成有了更深入的了解，尽管这项工作肯定尚未完成。了解物种形成的过程肯定有助于了解物种的本质。事实上，一般概念的目标是“连接可观察模式和推断过程的基本联系”[1]，平衡计分卡当然也是如此。然而，Wang等人[5]他们试图更进一步：他们没有将物种间不连续性的存在与基因流动、自然选择和生殖隔离进化的过程联系起来（这是对平衡分界线的标准解释），而是使平衡分界线依赖于一种特定的物种形成模式，即“异域物种形成”。 Mayr [6] 没有建立这种联系。事实上，他在书中的不同部分讨论了物种概念（第 2 章）和物种形成过程（第 15-17 章）。最近的专着也没有建立这种联系 [7, 8]。链接已建立
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a concept as,‘an idea of a class of objects, a general notion’. It follows from this definition that a concept cannot be rejected in the way that a hypothesis might be rejected if its predictions are inconsistent with observations. Instead, a concept must be judged by its heuristic value: does it help in making sense of the natural world? The biological species concept (BSC) was designed to aid understanding of biological diversity, particularly the ubiquitous observation that sexually reproducing organisms exist in more or less distinct phenotypic and genetic clusters rather than in a continuum of forms. It does so by focusing attention on the contrast between successful interbreeding within groups and reproductive isolation between them. Distinct groups can form in other ways, and can occur in organisms that lack regular sexual reproduction. This has led to alternative conceptualizations of the units of diversity [1, 2]. However, the fact that the BSC is highlighted in every biology textbook and lecture course, more than 80 years after it was introduced and formalized [3, 4], is testament to its continued utility. Perhaps most importantly, the BSC identifies a research programme for understanding the origin of biological diversity by equating the process of speciation with the evolution of reproductive isolation. This has been the foundation of a huge body of research in evolutionary biology since the neo-Darwinian synthesis, which has led to a much deeper understanding of species and speciation, although the job is certainly not yet completed.Understanding the process by which species form can certainly aid in understanding the nature of species. Indeed, concepts in general aim to be ‘fundamental links bridging observable patterns and inferred processes’[1] and this is certainly true of the BSC. However, Wang et al.[5] seek to go a step further: rather than linking the existence of discontinuities among species with the processes of gene flow, natural selection and the evolution of reproductive isolation, which is a standard interpretation of the BSC, they make the BSC dependent upon a particular mode of speciation, namely ‘allopatric speciation’. Mayr [6] did not make this connection. Indeed, he discussed species concepts (Chapter 2) and speciation processes (Chapters 15–17) in separate parts of his book. Nor has the connection been made in more recent monographs [7, 8]. The link made
影响因子：
3.3
作者：
Sobel, James M.;Chen, Grace F.
通讯作者：
Chen, Grace F.