joseph pitton de tournefort popularized the two-part system (genus and species) that biologists use to name organisms.
who popularized the two-part system (genus and species) that biologists use to name organisms?
joseph pitton de tournefort
biologists and taxonomists have made many attempts to define species, beginning from morphology and moving towards genetics. early taxonomists such as linnaeus had no option but to describe what they saw: this was later formalised as the typological or morphological species concept. ernst mayr emphasised reproductive isolation, but this, like other species concepts, is hard or even impossible to test. later biologists have tried to refine mayr's definition with the recognition and cohesion concepts, among others. many of the concepts are quite similar or overlap, so they are not easy to count: the biologist r. l. mayden recorded about 24 concepts, and the philosopher of science john wilkins counted 26. wilkins further grouped the species concepts into seven basic kinds of concepts: (1) agamospecies for asexual organisms (2) biospecies for reproductively isolated sexual organisms (3) ecospecies based on ecological niches (4) evolutionary species based on lineage (5) genetic species based on gene pool (6) morphospecies based on form or phenotype and (7) taxonomic species, a species as determined by a taxonomist.
species
there are different types of biologists. theoretical biologists use mathematical methods and develop models to understand phenomena and ideally predict future experimental results, while experimental biologists conceive experiments to test those predictions. some biologists work on microorganisms, while others study multicellular organisms (including humans). some investigate the nano or micro-scale, others emergent properties such as ecological interactions or cognition. there is much overlap between different fields of biology (e.g. zoology, microbiology, genetics and evolutionary biology) and due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field it is often difficult to classify a life scientist as only one of them. many biological scientists work in research and development. some conduct fundamental research to advance human knowledge of life. furthermore, applied biological research often aids the development of solutions to problems in areas such as human health and the natural environment. biological scientists mostly work in government, university, and private industry laboratories.
biologist