August 24, 2006
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SPECIES:
Butterfly Kiss-Off (JEFFREY A. LOCKWOOD, 8/24/06, NY Times)
The North American Butterfly Association is as unhappy as a butterfly in a Buffalo blizzard (the association points out that these fragile creatures could suffer such a fate). Their primary concern is the release of butterflies from one locale into a different region. Federal regulations prohibit the shipments to states where a species doesn’t naturally occur, as if Long Island was the same ecological system as Albany.The butterfly association also raises the concern that interbreeding of otherwise separate populations could cause genetic deterioration of endemic varieties that have adapted to local conditions and warp migratory behaviors. In principle, the farm-raised butterflies may also carry unfamiliar strains of pathogens, although diseased larvae rarely survive to adulthood.
Why should astronomers get to make the biggest asses of themselves when Darwinists have nearly retired the title? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 24, 2006 11:20 AM
From Wikipedia, "In biology, a species is, loosely speaking, a group of related organisms that share a more or less distinctive form and are capable of interbreeding. As defined by Ernst Mayr, species are 'groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups' (however, see definitions of species below)."
Could you please elaborate on what you mean when you often say that there is no such thing as a species?
Posted by: Jonathan at August 24, 2006 4:03 PMYou elaborated quite nicely.
Words with actual meaning don't have definitions that read "As defined by X."
Species are like the current Pluto dust up--just a categorization argument among fanatics.
Posted by: oj at August 24, 2006 4:15 PM