Dear Colleagues,
This is outside the normal ecological questions we post here, but I am very
interested in your opinions on this.
I was having an armchair philosophical discussion with a colleague and some
students the other day, trying to figure out if we (ecologists / scientists)
would use the word "species" to describe an extra-terrestrial life form
(supposing that someday we find one - or one finds us [c.f. Hawking]).
Here is why we were unsure of the proper term to use.
-The discussion over the basic definition of the word "species"
-We seem to be leaning more toward the phylogenetic definition (although there
is much discussion still going on about this and others may disagree); this
definition uses the ancestor/lineage model.
-If a life form is outside of our planet's big-picture evolutionary lineage, do
we then use a different term than "species"? If so, what might we use?
Would love to hear your ideas about this!
Thanks,
Shelly
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_3
