Why do species matter

Crane - - Philosophy of Science 71 2 Is Species Integrity a Human Right? Ingo Brigandt - - Philosophy of Science 70 5 — Species Inegalitarianism as a Matter of Principle. Christopher Knapp - - Journal of Applied Philosophy 26 2 Triage as a Species Preservation Strategy. David H. Bennett - - Environmental Ethics 8 1 Marc F.

Alastair S. Gunn - - Environmental Ethics 2 1 Added to PP index Total views 60 , of 2,, Recent downloads 6 months 13 49, of 2,, How can I increase my downloads? Sign in to use this feature. About us. Editorial team. We are all of the same species, so this is a rather narrow definition of diversity. To an ecologist, diversity is the number of different species in an area, also known as biodiversity or richness.

Unlike some politicians, ecologists are also concerned with how equitably the resources are shared among the various species that are present. One of the longstanding questions in ecology is whether productivity bears any relationship to diversity.

After all, if it does, then the ongoing loss of species from our planet might be expected to lower its productivity, which would be bad for species like Homo sapiens that depend on nature for food, fuel, and shelter. Field observations have not resolved the relationship between productivity and diversity.

Tropical rainforests and salt marshes have some of the highest rates of plant growth—primary productivity—on Earth, but the rainforest has lots of species and often the salt marsh has only one. Some of the most productive agricultural lands are intentionally maintained as monocultures of one species, albeit at considerable economic costs for cultivation, irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticides.

Nature Reviews Genetics 3, Cracraft, J. Species concepts and speciation analysis. Current Ornithology 1 , Ernst Mayr and the modern concept of species. PNAS Suppl 1 , Donoghue, M. A critique of the biological species concept and recommendations for a phylogenetic alternative. The Bryologist 88 , Federal Register.

Hey, J. The mind of the species problem. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16 , Mayr, E. Species concepts and definitions. The Species Prblem. AAAS, Washington, Rosen, D. Fishes from the uplands and intermontane basins of Guatemala: revisionary studies and comparative biogeography. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History , Rosenbaum, H. World-wide genetic differentiation of Eubalaena : questioning the number of right whale species.

Molecular Ecology 9 , Templeton, A. The meaning of species and speciation: a genetic perspective. Speciation and its consequences.

Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA Origins of New Genes and Pseudogenes. Evolutionary Adaptation in the Human Lineage. Genetic Mutation. Negative Selection. Sexual Reproduction and the Evolution of Sex. Haldane's Rule: the Heterogametic Sex.

Hybrid Incompatibility and Speciation. Hybridization and Gene Flow. Why Should We Care about Species? By: Jody Hey, Ph. Citation: Hey, J. Nature Education 2 5 The questions "What are species? See how consensus on answers to these questions can steer global, political, and financial pressures that affect conservation efforts. Aa Aa Aa. Why Are Species So Confusing? The central difficulty when studying species is that, even though all species are kinds of organisms, all kinds of organisms are not species.

For example, birds are a kind of organism, but birds are not a species --there are many thousands of species of birds. For scientific purposes, it is not enough to identify a kind of organism. As a biologist you must also determine what level or rank of kind to assign to an organism. If you discover a new kind of organism then you must decide if it should be called a new species, or if it falls within an already described species.

For example, the common chimpanzee species, Pan troglodytes , appears to include several slightly different kinds of chimpanzees. Each of these have been given the rank of sub-species. Alternatively, a newly discovered kind of organism might be so different from other known species that it receives not only a designation as a new species but also a ranking as a new genus.

This is our moment to address the climate crisis. World leaders are currently gathered in Glasgow at CoP26, the most important summit to tackle the climate crisis. Find out why this matters to you. Why does CoP26 matter? Koati is the anticipated animated comedy film featuring a family of exotic creatures from the Latin American rainforests in their What is COP15 and why does it matter for biodiversity?