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Published: 23rd February 2010

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The advent of relational databasing and data storage capacity, coupled with revolutionary advances in molecular sequencing technology and specimen imaging, have led to a taxonomic renaissance. Systema Naturae 250 - The Linnaean Ark maps the origins of this renaissance, beginning with Linnaeus, through his "apostles", via the great unsung hero Charles Davies Sherbon - arguably the father of biodiversity informatics - up to the present day with the Planetary Biodiversity Inventories and into the future with the Encyclopedia of Life and web-based taxonomy.

The book provides scientific, historical, and cultural documentation of the evolution of taxonomy and the successful adaptation of the Linnaean nomenclature system to that evolution. It underscores the importance of taxonomic accuracy, not only for the classification of living organisms, but for a more complete understanding of the living world and its biodiversity. The book also examines the role of technologies such as DNA sequencing, specimen imaging, and electronic data storage.

A celebration of 250 years of the scientific naming of animals, Systema Naturae 250 - The Linnaean Ark records and explores the history of zoological nomenclature and taxonomy, detailing current and future activity in these fields. Descriptive taxonomy has been in decline, despite the fact that the classification of organisms through taxonomic studies provides the foundation of our understanding of life forms. Packed with illustrations and tables, this book establishes a vision for the future of descriptive taxonomy and marks the beginning of a period of rapid growth of taxonomic knowledge.

The 18 chalptcrs cover just about every subject that could be subsumed under this title, from speculations about Linnaeus' childhood to problems with computerizing the names of all the world's plants and animals. The lengthiest chapter, 54 pages, was authored by B. Dayrat; it is a history of zoological nomenclature, written in a most engaging style. It may be old stuff to zoologists, but every botanist with an interest in nomenclature will want to read it. -Neil A. Harriman, Biology Department, Wisconsin-Oshkosh University, in Plant Science Bulletin 57( I) 2011 Summing Up: Essential. Active biological collections serving upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. -E. Delson, CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College, in CHOICE, April 2011 Overall, the smorgasbord of Systema Naturae 250 is a fitting tribute to the past 250 years of zoological nomenclature. This book justly celebrates the enormous accomplishments of the taxonomic community in cataloging almost 1.5 million animal species, and a method of scientific inquiry that has endured for more than a quarter of a millennium. This is illustrated in the book's final chapter, in which Fredrik Ronquist reminds us that the birthplace of Linnaeus still has an active role in modern taxonomy through the work of the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative. The positive outlook presented by Polaszek and colleagues is especially encouraging from a discipline that at times has an unfortunate tendency to focus more on what it has not done, than on what it has achieved. -Vincent S. Smith, Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum Syst. Biol. 59(6):757-760, 2010

ISBN: 9781420095012
ISBN-10: 1420095013
Audience: Professional
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 300
Published: 23rd February 2010
Dimensions (cm): 25.4 x 17.8  x 2.032
Weight (kg): 0.726