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PMID: 14529174 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Opinion: the species problem, can we achieve a universal concept?

Systematic and applied microbiology ·Vol. 26 ·No. 3 ·2003-09-00 ·Pages 323-6

Rosselló-Mora R

Abstract

One of the so called 'species problems' is that no universal concept exists. There is a tendency among microbiologists to criticize the hitherto devised concept. It is considered by some researchers as being too conservative and not suitable to be compared with those for eukaryotes. However, such problem is not only restricted to prokaryotes, but among other taxonomies comparisons seem to be impossible. As it is argued, the underlying cause to this problem is the reductionistic and monistic use of taxonomy. Analyzing the more than 22 devised concepts it seems possible to achieve a universal species concept. However, this might not be pragmatic. For the time being, a pluralistic sense of the species concept might be accepted, and one will have to recognize that any comparison among different taxonomies will be difficult.

MeSH Terms
Bacteria/classification,genetics Biodiversity Classification/methods DNA, Ribosomal Genotype Phenotype Phylogeny Sequence Homology Terminology as Topic
Chemicals
DNA, Ribosomal
Authors & Affiliations
1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Rosselló-Mora Ramon
Grup d'Oceanografia Interdisciplinar, Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Mallorca, Spain. rossello-mora@uib.es
Article Info
Journal
Systematic and applied microbiology
Abbr.
Syst Appl Microbiol
ISSN
0723-2020
Published
2003-09-00
Pages
323-6
Language
English
Region
Germany
NLM ID
8306133
Subset
IM
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