TY - JOUR
T1 - Protecting stable biological nomenclatural systems enables universal communication
T2 - A collective international appeal
AU - Jiménez-Mejías, Pedro
AU - Manzano, Saúl
AU - Gowda, Vinita
AU - Krell, Frank-Thorsten
AU - Lin, Mei-Ying
AU - Martín-Bravo, Santiago
AU - Martín-Torrijos, Laura
AU - Feliner, Gonzalo Nieto
AU - Mosyakin, Sergei L.
AU - Naczi, Robert F. C.
AU - Acedo, Carmen
AU - Álvarez, Inés
AU - Crisci, Jorge V.
AU - Garcés, Modesto Luceño
AU - Manning, John
AU - Moreno Saiz, Juan Carlos
AU - Muasya, A. Muthama
AU - Riina, Ricarda
AU - Sánchez Meseguer, Andrea
AU - Sánchez-Mata, Daniel
AU - Gillett, Conrad P.D.T.
AU - Hyvönen, Jaakko
AU - Muona, Jyrki
AU - Kaila, Lauri
AU - Myllys, Leena
AU - Tarasov, Sergei
AU - 1517 additional coauthors,
PY - 2024/6/19
Y1 - 2024/6/19
N2 - The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for “inappropriate”names. It is evident that such proposals come from very deep feelings, but we show how they can irreparably damage the foundation of biological communication and, in turn, the sciences that depend on it. There are four essential consequences of objective codes of nomenclature: universality, stability, neutrality, and transculturality. These codes provide fair and impartial guides to the principles governing biological nomenclature and allow unambiguous universal communication in biology. Accordingly, no subjective proposals should be allowed to undermine them.
AB - The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for “inappropriate”names. It is evident that such proposals come from very deep feelings, but we show how they can irreparably damage the foundation of biological communication and, in turn, the sciences that depend on it. There are four essential consequences of objective codes of nomenclature: universality, stability, neutrality, and transculturality. These codes provide fair and impartial guides to the principles governing biological nomenclature and allow unambiguous universal communication in biology. Accordingly, no subjective proposals should be allowed to undermine them.
KW - 1181 Ecology, evolutionary biology
U2 - 10.1093/biosci/biae043
DO - 10.1093/biosci/biae043
M3 - Article
SN - 0006-3568
VL - 74
SP - 467
EP - 472
JO - BioScience
JF - BioScience
IS - 7
ER -