IFES-GCOE Global COE Program "Establishment of Center for Integrated Field Environmental Science"
Graduate School of Environmental Science & Division of Environmental Resources, Graduate School of Agriculture
Hokkaido University

Seminar by an invited researcher from USA

The seminar by Dr. Colin Favret, the chief scientist of AphidNet, LLC, USA is going to hold a seminar. Dr. Favret has been invited by GCOE Invitation Fellowship Program since this June. Please find the summary of the seminar below and join this interesting seminar.

Speaker: Colin Favret (AphidNet, LLC, USA)
Subject: Who is Mr. Amino-san? Communication, taxonomy, and the species problem

Date: (Thur.) July 8, 2010 16:00-17:30 (schedule)
Venue: Room S12 at Research Faculty of Agriculture (1F at South Building)

Summary of the seminar:
Taxonomy is more than the science of naming species, it is a tool for communication and a tool for organizing data. A name is a key to unlock the stored knowledge of a species, accumulated over hundreds of years. How can we know what an insect eats and how an insect eats if we do not know what it is? Likewise, how do two people know they are talking about the same insect unless they have agreed to use the same words? Good taxonomy is therefore critical to any biological context, from medicine, to agriculture, to international trade. Unfortunately, the semantic necessity of good taxonomy is complicated by biological reality: we do not have an objective method for defining what a species is. How can we use a name for an entity that may or may not even exist? The seminar will introduce these philosophical concepts and discuss modern techniques for species discovery, delimitation, and recognition

Global COE Program "Establishment of Center for Integrated Field Environmental Science" at Hokkaido University