Species concepts and conservation
Species concepts and conservation
The Phylogenetic Species Concept (PSC) has come to be increasingly adopted in primatology, as in many other branches of vertebrate zoology. It has been objected that, with the increase in the number of recognised species entailed by the PSC, we do not have the financial resources required to conserve them all. This is an objection that is difficult to answer, given that it is a question of politics rather than of science. All that can be done is to point out that a precious scientific resource is in danger of disappearance; and that we are absolutely not at liberty to assume that even sister species are precisely ecologically equivalent, or that they play precisely the same role in providing ecosystem services. Some examples from primates as diverse as great apes, red colobus, and lemurs are given.
Keywords: Phylogenetic Species Concept, PSC, primatology, vertebrate zoology, ecosystem
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