Systematics, Taxonomy and Species Names: Do They Matter?

Abstract

The species name is a shorthand identifier for a taxonomic entity and provides an important information retrieval tool, even more so in this age of electronic on-line searching and large-scale databases. However, the species name also has limitations. Firstly, the species must have been correctly identified and the correct name applied. Secondly, because of new insights and data on species, there may be a reappraisal of the species and its relationship to other taxa leading to possible changes in the name. One needs to be aware of these changes if one wishes to retrieve all the information available on the organism. For microalgae provision of the species name (binomial) alone in a publication is not sufficient. For effective and accurate data retrieval and communication the strain designator (strain number) is also extremely important. Two strains may initially have been identified as the same species, but later studies may show them to belong to different species or, even if they are the same species, to show some genetic and important phenotypic differences in physiology, some of which may have arisen in culture over time. For a number of algae species the name and its phylogenetic placement have undergone changes over the years. In this book considerable effort has gone into ensuring, as far as possible, that the currently accepted names for algae species are used and, in order to assist in reconciling species names and to find the taxonomic affiliation of species this chapter lists all the species names used in the book and also provides information on the name changes of the major species.