ArticleSystematic biology2022
Species as a Heuristic: Reconciling Theory and Practice.
Article in Systematic biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Turrill's Omega: A Heuristic Index for Quantifying the Support of a Taxonomic Hypothesis.Biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Undescribed and imperiled vertebrate biodiversity near an American urban center.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Comparative species delimitation of a biological conservation icon.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Three new species of Acalypha L. (Euphorbiaceae, Acalyphoideae) from Tanzania and Angola and their conservation status.PloS one · 2025Article
- Morphometrics and Phylogenomics of Coca (Erythroxylum spp.) Illuminate Its Reticulate Evolution, With Implications for Taxonomy.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Isolated, neglected, and likely threatened: a new species ofFrontiers in plant science · 2024Article
- The research behind a taxonomic monograph: a case study fromKew bulletin · 2024Article
- Integrative species delimitation and five new species of lynx spiders (Araneae, Oxyopidae) in Taiwan.PloS one · 2024Article
- Notes onKew bulletin · 2024Article
- Phylogeography and cohesion species delimitation of California endemic trapdoor spiders within theEcology and evolution · 2023Article
- Lineage and role in integrative taxonomy of a heterotrophic orchid complex.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Revised Species Delimitation in the Giant Water Lily GenusFrontiers in plant science · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Species are crucial to most branches of biological research, yet remain controversial in terms of definition, delimitation, and reality. The difficulty of resolving the "species problem" stems from the tension between their theoretical concept as groups of evolving and highly variable organisms and the practical need for a stable and comparable unit of biology. Here, we suggest that treating species as a heuristic can be consistent with a theoretical definition of what species are and with the practical means by which they are identified and delimited. Specifically, we suggest that theoretically species are heuristic since they comprise clusters of closely related individuals responding in a similar manner to comparable sets of evolutionary and ecological forces, whilst they are practically heuristic because they are identifiable by the congruence of contingent properties indicative of those forces. This reconciliation of the theoretical basis of species with their practical applications in biological research allows for a loose but relatively consistent definition of species based on the strategic analysis and integration of genotypic, phenotypic, and ecotypic data. [Cohesion; heuristic; homeostasis; lineage; species problem.].
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