Roger Hyam

I put this talk together for a meeting just in case I needed to elaborate on a point in one of my reports. I never used it but post it here for the record.

The slides are pretty self explanatory. The rules of nomenclature applied by some studious nomenclaturists lead to a change in the official name of a protected rodent. A name that has been stable for years. Who does this name change help? What purpose does it serve outside of playing the nomenclatural game?

Your comments are most welcome -especially if you are rodent specialist.

I just wrote 500 words explaining the relationship between Taxonomy, Nomenclature and PESI for use in the PESI portal. Here they are:

The process of creating a classification of life is split into two parts. Firstly experts decide which species exist. This process is called taxonomy. Secondly the experts work out what to call the species they recognise. This is called nomenclature.

The relationship between taxonomy and nomenclature is complex. Continue reading »