lumpers and splitters

The number one question my college professors asked in class was “what is a species?” The predictable kids would shoot up their hands and explain that a species is a group of like organisms that can breed and produce viable, fertile offspring. And that is really not a bad answer. But there is no easy answer to this question.

I struggled for a long time to accept Linnaean taxonomy. That is- this system we have put in place to give animals Latin names to separate and organize them as much as humanly possible. We need it, for sure. It helps us organize evolutionary trees and distinguish one animal from another. But all of life is really on a grand continuum, and to me it almost seemed an insult to its complexity to try and finitely categorize all of its marvels.

After a few semesters of classes, I began to really get sick of how many species I was memorizing. But my feelings turned downright bitter when subspecies came into the picture. You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Can’t our scientific energy be directed to something more important?

I learned that those dirty scientists who insist on splitting groups of animals until there are at least a million species and subspecies per genus are called “splitters.” Those rational biologists who would like to clean up our present taxonomy by combining extremely similar animals are called “lumpers.” Until spring semester of senior year, I was a proud and unbudging lumper.

One of my best teachers of all time, Dr. Hill, devoted a class to talking about lumpers and splitters. He described to us what I just described to you. Someone raised their hand and asked whether he was a lumper or a splitter. After a brief pause, he said three horrible words. “I’m a splitter.” What? But I liked him. I liked a splitter? Gross.

Skip to the end of the lecture, and I don’t think it’s so gross anymore. As a bird biologist, he was acutely aware of the plummeting numbers of migratory songbirds. The more species of birds we have, the more birds the government can list as federally protected. Ahh. It was not an issue of organization at all. It was political. So much of science is driven by legislative politics. How had I never thought of it that way?

There’s something to be said for changing your mind. If it helps protect the birdies, I say to hell with a clean evolutionary tree. Split, people, split!

What do you think?