The word "species" is based on the word "specere" -- to see. So I guess if we see that ET is a distinct sort of living thing, it is a species. So now do we need to define "living"?
Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shelly Thomas Sent: Friday, 07 May, 2010 13:47 To: [email protected] Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Extra-terrestrial "Species" 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:W L:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_3
