This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Yet another evolution article in a heap. I'm doing the usual, but in this case the main structure of the article is almost entirely missing, and even the lead needs to be replaced. I've created 3 main sections, on Flowering plants (coevo with insects, birds); host-parasite coevo; reproductive coevo with figs; ... and suspect there are other major instances. Ants/acacias were already described, and are perhaps worthy of more; I wonder which other examples you think are major? I doubt if the lichens will count as the algal partners are pretty non-specific, for instance. And the models section is pretty rubbish at the moment. Ideas? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:13, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
While working on symbiogenesis I decided to investigate Konstantin Mereschkowski. Oh my! What a sad story. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 12:45, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
Pls see Talk:Pumpkin/Archive 1#Semi-protected_edit_request_on_31_January_2017 HalfGig talk 02:48, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
See this new article I'm working on. Note the taxonomy, which I generally find as I have it in the article. But there's also this taxon: http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0211.htm
Can you explain this to me? I haven't quite figured out if one is outdated or what. Wiki species has the one in the article. Feel free to edit the article. I'm working on adding info from the external links into the article. Beautiful flower. HalfGig talk 03:52, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
Yes, it is a tangle and horticulturists will be upset, but that could become a similar situation to Coleus with its head note "For the popular ornamental plant, see Plectranthus scutellarioides". Coleus is now mostly used as a common name. There is nothing listed in Proposals and disposals, which would mean that nobody has made a formal proposal to do one of those drastic things like conserving Mimulus with a new type. I'm not sure, though, which are the popular ornamental plants in "Mimulus"; the M. guttatus complex has been intensively studied, but as far as I know it is of more interest as a wild-flower than as an ornamental. The many-coloured ones would include the F2 and later generations from crossing red ones with yellow ones, and perhaps other products from clever plant breeding.
How about creating a page for Erythranthe, without undoing Mimulus, saying that the genus name has been set up for what has also been called Mimulus section Erythranthe, perhaps with a list of species in the section/genus? If someone wants to go in later and write a lot about it, that genus page could be a good support. I'd like to see some work being done on that because, for example, we have Mimulus_carsonensis set up in January this year, but supported by a citation called "A Revision of Erythranthe montioides and Erythranthe palmeri (Phrymaceae), with Descriptions of Five New Species from California and Nevada, USA". Not very tidy, that; one doesn't publish the new name Mimulus carsonensis by putting it in wikipedia (I hope nobody adds "nomen novum" to that page in some misguided attempt to circumvent the spirit of the Code of Nomenclature.) Ugh! I'm extremely busy IRL right now, but will try to move some of those to the Erythranthe names. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 04:32, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
Gosh, a question I can answer, I think. Morus (plant) is how WP names mulberries; Morus (bird) is how it names gannets. Seems a nice solid precedent, if that's what you need. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 22:26, 8 February 2017 (UTC)
So we need to set up a page for the genus Diplacus as well. Not monotypic. Not sure when I'll get to that. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 21:27, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
Please note that that change of the genus name Mimulus to other genera names is published in a non-peer reviewed journal that is edited by one of the authors of the paper. This is a major conflict of interest. No paper suggesting these genera changes has passed peer review and so is highly suspect in the eyes of the scientific community. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidbryantlowry ( talk • contribs) 16:15, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
Sminth and all talk page stalkers: I've moved these to article space and done a dual nom for DYK. Feel free to review. As for the last email about Latin names, etc, I've left the listings of old and new names at User:HalfGig/Erythranthe so we can still work on getting that info into the genus article. HalfGig talk 00:45, 12 February 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - Just wondered what you thought of this edit to Prahran, Victoria. Is the addition of "inner" necessary? Is it an improvement, or is it unnecessary? – Corinne ( talk) 00:56, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
All-Around Amazing Barnstar | ||
Sminth, I can't thank you enough for all the times you bail me out. Your superb work on botany articles can not be understated. You are a very kind, helpful, and courteous Wikipedian. Thanks so much for all your superb collaboration over the last few years! HalfGig talk 03:09, 15 February 2017 (UTC) |
Aw shucks. Thank you HalfGig, and thank you for dealing with these large taxonomic muddles which probably nobody else would have got around to tackling. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 03:36, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
I've been looking around for enough info to do other Erythranthe species articles but there seems to be paltry few sources on the ones that aren't done already. HalfGig talk 12:39, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
Dear editor, I'm relatively new on wikipedia, and was wondering if you could help me with an issue of the Epistasis-page: someone seems to have moved content from the page "Epistatis" ( /info/en/?search=Epistasis) to "Non-allelic_gene_interaction" ( /info/en/?search=Non-allelic_gene_interaction ), creating two exactly the same, or at least highly similar pages in the process. You seem to have worked on the Epistasis-page in the past: does it make sense to revert this edit/merge the pages/or are these really two different things?
JSHuisman ( talk) 13:24, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
Oh well. I've tried various ways to get the history merge done, but have failed. The good news is that the subject matter is no longer duplicated. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 10:07, 25 February 2017 (UTC)
Two years! |
---|
-- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 08:26, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
Please see today's post at User_talk:Casliber#Please_move_Erythranthe_aurantiacus. I feel horrible. HalfGig talk 13:40, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
Sminth and @ Chiswick Chap:...please look and the new Erythranthe section on diseases and pests. Can the statement "Diplacus, Erythranthe, and Mimulus are subject to a very similar set of pests and diseases" pass wiki muster or do we need to reword it or add more sources? Thanks. HalfGig talk 18:48, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
Sminth and Chiswick Chap...you may have noticed Guy Nesom has written a lot on M., D. and E.. This article I just found by him is golden: [1]. Over the next 1-2 days I'll incorporate it into the three genera articles. HalfGig talk 13:28, 20 February 2017 (UTC)
On 22 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Erythranthe, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Suksdorf's monkeyflower of the genus Erythranthe was named after the mostly self-taught immigrant botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf? You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, Erythranthe), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Coffee // have a cup // beans // 12:03, 22 February 2017 (UTC)
On 22 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Erythranthe suksdorfii, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Suksdorf's monkeyflower of the genus Erythranthe was named after the mostly self-taught immigrant botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf? You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, Erythranthe suksdorfii), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Coffee // have a cup // beans // 12:03, 22 February 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminth - Is this edit an improvement to Jack jumper ant? If so, I think a comma is needed. If "Southeastern Australia" is supposed to name a province, I suppose the original word order would be all right. If Tasmania should be considered a part of "southeastern Australia", then the new wording is right, with a comma. – Corinne ( talk) 04:44, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
Sminth, could you, @ Chiswick Chap:, and @ Peter coxhead: look over my draft at User:HalfGig/Erythranthe peregrina before I move it to article space? I'd especially appreciate a look to see if I got the genetics and other technical stuff right. Thank you. HalfGig talk 13:48, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
You probably have this article on your watch list, but in case you don't, you might be interested in reading Talk:Palynology#Suggestions. The suggestion is worded in such academic language that it makes little sense to me, but I guess you will understand it. – Corinne ( talk) 01:05, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I was reading today's featured article, and then looking at a few linked articles, and I found Beyeria. I noticed that there is no image for this article. Would it be possible to find one for the article? – Corinne ( talk) 00:45, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
I nom'd it for valued image on commons. We'll see what happens. HalfGig talk 13:58, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
Sminth, @ Chiswick Chap:, and @ Peter coxhead:. As you know I've been regularly working on improving Erythranthe. It and Asa Gray are waiting at GAC for a GA review. I've hit a brick wall and was wondering if you could look at Erythranthe and suggest and/or make improvement to get it to GA level. Thank you. HalfGig talk 01:33, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
I just added this to Diplacus from a 1905 source, HAHA: Diplacus used to be a separate genus from Mimulus but not later than 1905, it was merged into Mimulus until the 2012 restructuring. "cite journal|title=The Gardener's Magazine: Diplacus glutinosus|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FZdOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA741&lpg=PA741&dq=mimulus+culinary+use&source=bl&ots=k9xst6Q-na&sig=ENnBroFUsL6H6L1YZ3uz6in4gxY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMroaJ0MDSAhVU1mMKHQydD4Q4HhDoAQgbMAE#v=onepage&q=mimulus%20culinary%20use&f=false%7Clocation=London%7Cpublisher=Gardeners' Magazine Office|year=1905|page=741|volume=XLVIII|date=18 November 1905"
cardinalis. Greene (1885) reduced Erythranthe to a section of Mimulus " HalfGig talk 12:15, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I was just reading the article on Liquorice, and toward the end of the Liquorice#Food and candy section there is a tag that says "dubious - discuss". I thought perhaps you might be able to address this. Also, I see that there is a Liquorice#Folk medicine section. I wonder if the statement about the use of liquorice in folk medicine in Egypt that appears in the paragraph right before the one with the "dubious" tag should be moved there.
I also wonder whether you think this article could, or should, be expanded. If you think there is enough information in sources that could be added to this article, perhaps it would be a good candidate for nomination at WP:Today's articles for improvement. – Corinne ( talk) 15:22, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
I was just looking at the latest to Iron gall ink. Does vinegar contain citric acid? I thought it contained only acetic acid. – Corinne ( talk) 22:50, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
I've had a go at citing and reshaping Species into something vaguely acceptable. If people think it's worth a shot I'll put it up for GA, but would be pleased to hear what may be missing from what is quite a slippery and rambling concept. I've had some, er, interesting comments already, but even they are grudgingly coming around! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:33, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
P.S. Species led me inevitably to Hybrid (biology), a shocking mess. I'll take a slasher to it now. Again, suggestions for creative destruction welcomed. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:39, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
On 14 March 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Erythranthe peregrina, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Erythranthe peregrina (pictured) is a rare example of a species developing in multiple locations from parents that normally produce sterile hybrids? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Erythranthe peregrina. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, Erythranthe peregrina), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Mifter ( talk) 12:02, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
I'm sure this is one of your favorites, enjoy:
I'm wrestling with this minotaur of a beast. Any suggestions for how it should be organised? It rambles about without quite repeating itself, so it's probably tetraploid itself... Would love to get it into better shape but can't see how. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:51, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
I've split the rather large list of plant hybrids out as a new article. Every entry in the table is cited to authorities ....... but the words of Bloggs 1921 and Doe 1951 are not expanded anywhere (nor were they in the original article). Might someone with botanical knowledge care to lend a hand? Tedious, I know, but we are putting things in order. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:54, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
My fruit tree blossoms bloomed a month early due to global warming. Then last week that Canadian Arctic air mass damaged much of my peach, plum, and pear blossoms (persimmons hadn't bloomed yet). I think they'll all still have some fruit, but right now I'd call it moderate damage. ☹️ HalfGig talk 12:55, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminth, a very keen student determined I think to get a top grade has added some carefully cited stuff at Convergent evolution#Methods of detection. I've carefully copy-edited it to remove grammatical inelegancies, duplication, and upper case. I think I nearly understand some of it, but not the crucial distinction at the top, given how it's explained. Thoughts? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:17, 1 April 2017 (UTC)
Ah, another bunch of students over at crop diversity, well spotted. The citations are fine (if over-documented) but the text tends to be little better than waffle. It seems more and more bunches of them descend on us each academic year. I blame their lecturers! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 11:28, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
Aaargh. Do you think an editor's recent efforts on Function (biology) are an improvement? They're trying to distinguish between its roles in adaptation and in natural selection, which one might have compared to trying to distinguish between "drumkit" and "loud noise". But I'd be curious to hear your op. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 07:47, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
Is there any good reason why we have two such similar articles? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 18:36, 6 April 2017 (UTC)
I've had fun tracking down some of the, er, many crackpot theories in the area, and making a table of them. I don't know why I find this so amusing, but I do. On the other hand, Ruse is so opinionated I'm not sure I can face reading him. Maybe dip in here and there. Happy Easter! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 13:49, 15 April 2017 (UTC)
Thanks for looking in on this - I've gone ahead and removed the stray item from the table, you might like to keep an eye in case it recurs on the talk page. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:03, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
I've rewritten this ... would be curious to know what you think it needs? The controversy bit is left over from the years B.M. (Before Me...) and smells like a WP:COATRACK, should probably be a separate article: but the detailed reviews are starting to make its more OR-ish conclusions unnecessary, perhaps. I'm uncertain whether to try to summarize the chapters. The lead is problematic, too, but extending it isn't easy. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 19:49, 8 April 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis84,
You reviewed the section I added to the Convergent Evolution page on methods. Thanks for your edits. It seems like you helped clear some things up. However, I noticed that you removed a pretty substantial amount of content regarding programs that can be used to infer convergence events. I thought this might have been a helpful section in case students or researchers were interested in learning what available resources there are for these types of methods. I wanted to clarify why this section needed to be removed. Additionally, I noticed that a particular section was removed and you commented that the material was not keeping with wikipedia's aim to be an encyclopedia. I was not sure why this was the case. Would you please clarify? I also wanted to add that windex is an R package to infer convergence since you commented that it was not: windex
Thanks again for your review.
Ahernandez6 ( talk) 14:36, 10 April 2017 (UTC)
Draft:Arthur J. Boucot is good enough for main space, although it needs a lot more about his actually work, especially his later career. It does reveal a lot of deficiencies in Wikipedia paleontology articles. -- 2601:648:8503:4467:41:BDE2:B17:E095 ( talk) 20:33, 13 April 2017 (UTC)
Hi, I've drafted a new article on something that was definitely big between 1859 and 1940! Would be delighted to hear what you think of it, and how it could be improved. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:17, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
Glad to know that you help new wikipedians for editing. I am a new one. however I worked wiki in regional language. It is earnest request to you to peruse the pages what i have created and enrich make edit as per your kind opinion. How can I get the autopatrolling facilities in Eng wikipedia? Pinakpani ( talk) 10:59, 27 April 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I was just reading the article on Cornus mas, and I noticed a tag "According to whom?" in the Cornus mas#Garden history section that has been there since April 2016. I wonder if you could answer the question. – Corinne ( talk) 22:59, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
This article is too technical for me:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.13091/full
if you have time could you look at it and incorporate it into Erythranthe? If possible, the description section could use some beefing up. Hope you are well. Thank you. HalfGig talk 13:10, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
My latest article is still a work in progress, but is approaching a reasonable shape; it needs a lead and overview. Would be curious to know what you think of the table in particular, and what is missing from it. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 14:42, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
Is mutationism any different from saltationism? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 15:40, 7 May 2017 (UTC)
Still wrestling with mutationism - there's a huge Goldschmidtian coatrack. Maybe I'll get the axe from the toolshed. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 07:54, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
Do you think the evolution of humans is crossing over from biological evolution to technological evolution of the species?
That is, changing of the nature of man biologically via technology?
What are your thoughts on this? The Transhumanist 16:00, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
I found you listed at Category:User js-1 (probably because you posted the corresponding userbox on your user page), and thought you might be interested in improving your skills by getting involved with developing user scripts, hobnobbing with other JavaScript programmers, and organizing and improving JavaScript articles and support pages.
We do all of that and more at the JavaScript WikiProject.
Scripts undergoing development, and the state of JavaScript on Wikipedia, are discussed on the talk page.
For an overview of JavaScript coverage on Wikipedia, see Draft:Outline of JavaScript and Index of JavaScript-related articles. For everything on user scripts, see User:The Transhumanist/Outline of scripts.
The WikiProject also organizes every resource it can find about JavaScript out there, such as articles, books, tutorials, etc. See our growing Reference library.
If you would like to join the JavaScript WikiProject, feel free to add your name to the participants list.
Hope to see you there! The Transhumanist 16:00, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 04:00, 14 May 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 -- I've just finished copy-editing Apatosaurus. I was surprised that an article would be placed on the main page before it was thoroughly copy-edited. I found errors right in the lead, which I fixed and then continued reading. I wonder if you could look at the last sentence in Apatosaurus#Paleoecology. It's also now the last sentence in the article:
I was puzzled by "of tree ferns and ferns". I think this might be confusing to an average reader. I wonder if you could link the terms or briefly clarify the difference between them. – Corinne ( talk) 03:37, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
Are the Henna and Tea plants related? I couldn't find any information about this in either article. In the tea article, the only images of a complete tea plant are old drawings. Would it be possible to add a clear photo of a tea plant? – Corinne ( talk) 21:24, 20 May 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I came across the article on the Ranni Forest Division. I noticed that in the section Ranni Forest Division#Index of flora and fauna, there is a list of flora that exist in the Ranni Forest Division. It is rather a long list, but I noticed that none of the species was linked, and I wonder if the species is supposed to be in italics. If you or any talk page stalker has time, perhaps you could improve this list. Best regards, – Corinne ( talk) 16:14, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
Continuing my series on the philosophy of evolutionary biology, I note that we have two muddled articles on adaptation, indeed two that attempt both to define it and to describe its philosophy. I'm not sure I can distinguish adaptationism from Darwinism, though Mr D was also Lamarckian... Do you think we need two articles, and how should coverage be structured? Most of the other articles are now much improved though I'm having a long wait for reviewers! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 11:19, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
Hi, could you look on this. We have a doubt whether this is Hosta 'Yellow Splash Rim' or some other Hosta sieboldiana cultivar. J e e 03:18, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
There are discussions ongoing about whether Mallard should discuss the place of that duck in human culture, and whether the domestic duck counts as a mallard; and about how many images should be included in Desert cottontail. You are invited to contribute. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:30, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
Would you mind reading my recent comment at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style#That vs. which for restrictive clauses? I don't really know what is considered acceptable in Canadian and Australian English – I just assumed both "which" and "that" were acceptable, as they seem to be in British English – so perhaps I shouldn't have written what I did regarding those variants of English without first checking. If I am wrong in what I wrote, I'd be glad if you would correct me there. – Corinne ( talk) 23:25, 29 June 2017 (UTC)
Hello. Can you help keep an eye on this article? Some editors come and revert important content without explanation.-- Fez Cap 12 ( talk) 03:21, 5 July 2017 (UTC)
Hey, I just wanted to talk to you about my edit to Epithet. I was wondering what you'd suggest, because I work as a linguist, and prescriptive linguistics isn't really a thing, or at least, is a representation of the field which is grounded in popular culture as "what linguistics is" but is actually only limited to non-linguistics talking about language. I'm always looking for better ways to explain how linguistics is inherently descriptive, so I was wondering if you had any better wording suggestions. Otherwise, I'd like to go back to "prescriptivists", so as to not perpetuate the misunderstanding. RSXS ( talk) 20:09, 28 July 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis84 and others watching - I'm a Wikipedia virgin and bamboozled by wikipedia processes, but would like to contribute as a subject specialist (despite the warnings you emphatically give). In fact I am motivated right now by the state of the Function (biology) page, having recently published what may become a landmark paper on the topic (which I know is a paradoxical counter-indicator). Since I don't know how to behave properly or use Wiki procedures, I prefer to show you a draft here and ask for your advice. I see you have been involved in the development of the page already.
Here it is: (unformatted). Please let me know if you are willing to help me edit the page, or wish to take any of this material and do it yourself.
Thanks, Keith. Keith df ( talk) 13:41, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
An update on Biological Function for Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A biological function is something a living system (e.g. an organism, organ or cell) does in the context of a wider system, with a (usually assumed positive) effect on that system. For example, the function of chlorophyll in a plant is to capture the energy of sunlight via photosynthesis,[9] and this contributes to the biological fitness of the plant.
In more formal and general terms: function is an objective account of the contribution made by a system’s component to the ‘capacity’ of the whole system (Cummins, 1975). Function specifically refers to a process which at minimum must be a) causal (a function causes an effect to happen) and b) the effect must be in a higher organisational structure. Most biologists consider it also must be c) selected at the level of the organism. Recognising the nested hierarchical structure of biological systems (molecules in networks; networks in cellular processes; cells in organisms; organisms in ecological communities), Farnsworth et al. (2017) defined biological function as:
“A biological function is a process enacted by a biological system A at emergent level n which influences one or more processes of a system B at level n+1, of which A is a component part.
Biological functions exist at the levels of molecular, cellular, organism and community organisation so function is an important concept in genetics, physiology, animal behaviour and ecology. By tracing functional effects through the nested hierarchy leading from one to the next higher emergent level, a function at the molecular level can be seen as functional at an ecological level. This is made concrete by metagenomic functional analysis (e.g. Huttenhower et al 2012) which reveals the effects of genes having community-level “ecological” function.
In genetics, coding, regulatory (e.g. promotor) and punctuation components of genes are often considered functional, whereas much of the remainder: introns, pseudo-genes etc. are considered “junk DNA” Kellis et al., 2014. By far the majority of base-pairs in eukaryotic DNA appear to be non-functional, though they may have (or previously had) an effect on the species to which they belong. Transposable elements are an important example of this (Bowen and Jordan 2002).
Doolittle et al., (2014) clarified the range of potential meanings of function in molecular biology and genetics. The most justifiable assignment of function to a DNA element, they argued, was where selection at the organism level was demonstrated. This is only a subset of cases where a causal role has been established. Alternatives include a) selection at higher or lower emergent levels, b) neutral (non-selective) processes, which frequently ratchet their way into conserved stability, and c) spandrels (the term used by Gould and Lewontin (1979) for by-products of selection). Doolittle et al. (2014) distinguished the spandrels from “mere effects”, which play no causal role in the system to which they belong: spandrels play an unintended and perhaps irrelevant causal role (e.g. the ‘thumping sound’ of the heart).
Most ecologists believe the adaptionist view of function does not apply to ecological function because communities of organisms do not evolve (Nunes-Neto et al. 2014). Jax (2005) resolved the use of the word ‘function’ in ecology into four broad meanings: 1) individual-level processes, such as a particular predation event; 2) systemic processes, such as nitrogen uptake; 3) individual ‘roles’ defining ‘functional groups’ of organisms, including their contribution to a higher level of organisation, such as the guild of detritivores, or simply a phenotypic (often life-history) category and 4) effects of the activity of working ecosystems that impinge on human society, leading to ecosystem services (note that only (3) above conforms to the Cummins (1975) definition. A major use of functional concepts in Ecology is identifying the Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function relationship.
At first sight, the variety of biological functions (e.g. from an enzyme’s activity to the grooming behaviour of mammals) suggests that no unifying currency would be available to quantify functioning. Farnsworth et al (2017) suggested that if all biological functions are by definition a contribution to a “master function” and if this “master function” is interpreted as the growth of biological material (by reproduction and cell replication), then biomass production could serve as a universal currency for biological functions of all kinds at all levels of biological organisation. At the level of organism, this translates to Darwinian fitness, at the ecological level, to total production rate (which is the usual metric of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function studies).
Main article: Tinbergen's four questions
Assuming animal behaviours to be functional, the ethologist Niko Tinbergen proposed four questions, based on Aristotle's Four Causes,[11] that a biologist could ask to help explain a behaviour (though they have been generalised to a wider scope).
The philosophy of biological function is part of the philosophy of biology and, more broadly the philosophy of science. Philosophical definitions of biological function divide into those based on etiological and those based on causal role arguments. Karen Neander (2011) identified four branches of philosophical argument: a) Etiological; b) Systemic; c) Propensity; and d) Statistical. The essential insight transforming teleological and normative descriptions into more scientifically objective ones, is the recognition that evolution selects and shapes system components according to their positive contribution to organism fitness. Thus a function of X is identified as a feature of X that confers greater life-time reproductive success (Darwinian fitness) to the organism of which X is a part, than if that organism were without X. This etiological idea is broadly accepted for all but ecological systems because for these, natural selection is not expected (e.g. Wright 1998[1973] quoted in Nunes-Neto et al 2014).
Epistemological approaches and how etiological differs from systemic and organisational (Nunes-Neto et al 2014).
Teleological language is often used by biologists as a shorthand way of describing function, even though its applicability is disputed.[10]
Scientific accounts of phenomena conventionally rule out teleological language because it is considered subjective and anthropocentric. But most (thoughtful and precise) definitions of biological function still imply goal-directedness (purpose) and normative value (goodness as opposed to badness) (Van Hateren 2017). With the obvious exception of human-made artifacts, such teleological connotations seem only to apply to living systems. The question of whether biological functions are merely epistemic (where function is ascribed only by human perception and thought) or ontological (where function denotes autonomous causal efficacy) is central to the validity of their teleological interpretation (Van Hateren 2017). This is a difficult and not completely resolved problem, but several thinkers in the field are coalescing around the idea that constraints closure (Nunes-Neto et al 2014), or causal closure (Farnsworth et al. 2017) is the attribute which gives living organisms uniquely teleolonomic properties. These closure conditions are both stronger special cases of organizational closure, whereby a component serves the organization of a whole to which it belongs and the whole gives rise to the component: this concept of whole-part interdependence (termed the “Kantian whole” by Stuart Kauffman) is ascribed to Emanuel Kant. In this interpretation, function only makes sense as an attribute of a component of a causally (or constraint) closed system and the only known systems with that property are living ones.
It is possible to avoid teleological connotations in biological function by strictly limiting it to an epistemic account of the effects of processes that have been naturally selected for at the organism level via evolution (Doolittle et al., 2014), though Van Hateren 2017 constructed an argument for ontological function (implying telological meaning) from this natural selection requirement. In the mainstream philosophy of biology, evolution is considered a blind process which has no 'goal' for the future. For example, a tree does not grow flowers for any purpose, but does so simply because it has evolved to do so. To say 'a tree grows flowers to attract pollinators' would be incorrect if the 'to' implies purpose. A function describes what something does, not what its 'purpose' is.
One problem with removing teleological and normative connotations from biological function is that it appears to admit dysfunction into the definition. Neander (1991) suggested natural selection, as the criterion which separates function from dysfunction and others have come to the same conclusion. Mayr (1974) referred to teleomatic processes (directed by ‘natural laws’, hence deterministic and including abiotic processes) as well as teleonomic process (which Mayr defined as “goal-directed” and characteristic of living systems). Farnsworth et al 2017 used the concept of ‘master function’ (the function of the top-level of the system), against which all other functions may be measured: this more quantitative approach allows dysfunction as negative function, the negative value measuring the degree to which a component process counters the master function (which they suggested to be maximising biomass production). This use of the master-function only makes sense in the context of a system for which a ‘goal’ can be envisioned, but the goal is not a teleological one, it is merely a statement of the maximum rate of the process identified as the master function (i.e. it is objective). Any component, or any process, which negatively influences the operation of the master function can be regarded as counter-teleonomic (in the Mayr (1974) sense).
Since a function is a processes, potentially more than one living system can perform it, leading to functional redundancy and the possibility of substitution. This idea is formalised by the concept of functional equivalence class (FEC) (Table 1), which has grown from analysis of biochemical networks. The FEC was defined by Auletta et al., (2008) as a set of biochemical ‘operations’ having effects in common which are relevant to ‘goals’. The FEC consists of all operations (behaviours or processes) having the effect in question and this is context-dependent because an effect always depends on the nature of both the subject and the object. For example, the DNA sequences and corresponding protein structures of alcohol dehydrogenases in vertebrates bear no similarity with those of Drosophila and they work through different chemical reactions, but achieve the same end result of removing hydrogen from alcohol (Doolittle 1994). Functional redundancy is a controversial topic in community ecology related to the biodiversity-ecosystem function question. If functional redundancy does exist within ecosystems, it is usually regarded as an insurance against damage Yachi and Loreau, 1999.
Auletta, G., et al. 2008. Top-down causation by information control: From a philosophical problem to a scientific research programme. - J. R. Soc. Interface 5, 1159–1172.
Bowen, N. and Jordan, I. K. (2002). Transposable elements and the evolution of eukaryotic complexity. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol., 4:65–76.
Cummins, R. 1975. Functional analysis. - J. Philos. 72(20):741–765.
Doolittle W. F. et al. 2014. Distinguishing between "Function" and "Effect" in genome biology. - Genome Biol. Evol. 6: 1234-1237.
Farnsworth, K.D.; Albantakis, L.; Caruso, T. 2017. Unifying concepts of biological function from molecules to ecosystems. - Oikos. doi: 10.1111/oik.04171
Gould S. J. and Lewontin R. C. 1979. The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. - Proc. R. Soc. B. 205:581–598.
Huttenhower et al. 2012. Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome. Nature 486:207-214.
Jax, K. 2005. Function and "functioning" in ecology: what does it mean? - Oikos 3:641-648.
Kauffman, S. A. 1986. Autocatalytic sets of proteins. - J. Theor. Biol. 119:1-24.
Kellis M, et al. 2014. Defining functional DNA elements in the human genome. - Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 111:6131–6138.
Mayr, E. 1974. Teleological and Teleonomic: A New Analysis. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 14: 91 -117.
Nunes-Neto, N., Moreno, A., & El Hani, C. N. (2014). Function in ecology: An organizational approach. Biology and Philosophy, 29(1), 123–141.
van Hateren, J. H. 2017. A unifying theory of biological function. Biol. Theory 12:112-126 (2017); doi:10.1007/s13752-017-0261-y
Wright L (1973) Functions. Philos Rev 82:139–168.
Yachi, S. and M. Loreau. 1999. Biodiversity and ecosystem productivity in a fluctuating environment: The insurance hypothesis. - Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96:1463-1468. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Keith df ( talk • contribs) 13:31, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
( talk page stalker)Hello, Keith df! Welcome to Wikipedia. I agree with Sminthopsis84 that it would be a good idea to make small edits to articles for a while just to get a feel for how Wikipedia works. If no one has yet posted a welcome on your talk page, I will, and it will include links to helpful pages where you can read and learn about editing, policies, guidelines, etc. I suggest that you save everything you wrote above to your Sandbox (you'll see it as a tab at the top of your page), which is a kind of worksheet space. You can invite other editors to work with you, or review and comment upon your drafts, etc., before adding something to an article. It is easy to create new section headings in your Sandbox: just put any heading between pairs of two or three equals signs:== Heading here ==. The more equals signs you use, the smaller the font in the heading, so use three or four for sub-sections, one to three for larger headings. (A heading is created for you when you type in a subject to begin a new section on an article talk page or user talk page.) You'll get to know other editors interested in the same topics that you are. One experienced biology editor is Apokryltaros, who might be able to help you. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to try and answer them, or direct you to an editor who can, or to a page where you can find the answer. Don't forget to sign your posts (comments) with four tildes, which look like this: ~~~~. Best regards, – Corinne ( talk) 15:54, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
Thanks folks. I was hoping to be able to provide an up to date, accurate and comprehensive entry in Wikipedia. Your responses have reinforced the warnings (e.g. from Sminthopsis84) that Wikipedia is not designed for subject specialists and experts to do this. I therefore think it best for me to leave the well informed material that I have done and let the Wikipedia experienced people work with it as and when they wish. I will keep an eye on my account so I can respond to requests and questions in theoretical biology, ecology, complexity and network theory and related philosophy. The specific phrases commented on above, by the way (thanks for the advice) were quotations, so I cannot change them. Thanks agian. 143.117.62.164 ( talk) 11:21, 3 August 2017 (UTC) Keith_df
Hello, Sminthopsis. I've been doing some work on Pentadiplandra, which I hoped to improve to make it all-round rather than one-issue. User:Zefr however, has deleted a large part of the additions just 19 minutes after I made them, claiming these additions to be unsourced or based on unreliable sources. I think this is not enough time to be able to check if information is well-sourced. Zefr's contributions show he is specialised in removing lots of text in many different articles. Rather than starting an argument with Zefr, I rather ask the opinion of an experienced wikipedian like you. Could you please have a look to see whether you think Zefr is right? Thank you in advance, Dwergenpaartje ( talk) 16:22, 3 August 2017 (UTC)
I notice that there is a request for a copy-edit at Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Requests, with an accompanying note saying that several sections have been worked on. I recall our discussing this article a little over a year ago, at User talk:Corinne/Archive 21#Bangladesh. I wonder if you would take a look at the article, and perhaps also some of the recent changes, and give me your opinion as to whether the article has become stable enough to make it worthwhile to copy-edit this article again. – Corinne ( talk) 02:15, 4 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello Sminthopsis84,
The article i created almost a year agp was now deleted within 2 weeks of me being on vacation... I thought the article was quite precise in adding onto the article Biological Monitoring Article which now has grown quite alot. Could i request an undo for the deletion and fill in the sources that was asked? Evicos ( talk) 15:48, 15 August 2017 (UTC)
The article was unfortunatly put up for speedy deletion, which means it is no longer available in cache. I do however want to try and re-implement it at some point. I can try and rewrite it... Will there be a problem if i recreate a newly deleted page? p.s there was no discussion... Evicos ( talk) 11:48, 18 August 2017 (UTC)
Articles that you have been involved in editing— Monotypic taxon and Monospecificity—have been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. Nessie ( talk) 16:01, 17 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I came across something interesting in the third paragraph of Oyashio Current. It explains why "despite its present climate being much colder than most of Europe, East Asia has retained 96 percent of Pliocene tree genera, whereas Europe has retained only 27%". I wanted to read more about Pliocene tree genera, so I clicked on the link at Pliocene, and looked in the Pliocene#Paleogeography and Pliocene#Flora sections, but there was nothing about this or the trees. Is there an article where I could find out more about trees that survived in East Asia but not in Europe? – Corinne ( talk) 21:20, 19 August 2017 (UTC) Hi Corinne, those articles are very deficient in citations. I don't think we have any real floristic coverage here, and such information as exists would be on pages about individual tree genera, and not much of that. The reconstruction of the geographic origins of plants is recent science, based on very few fossils, but since the Pliocene is not all that long ago, and the continents have not moved very much since then,I would think that the inference is based on current genus diversity in Europe and Asia. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 13:23, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis84, I'm busy trying to get Modern synthesis through GAN and have restructured the article accordingly. The basic issue is that the thing was pushed by Huxley and Mayr, rewriting history to suit their narratives, so the story as commonly understood represents their position(s) rather than what had happened; and things haven't grown easier since, with many other interpretations. I've tried to stay clear of historiography by just describing who did what when. Would be grateful if you could take a look and offer any suggestions. I'm not sure if the reviewer is staying around, either... Chiswick Chap ( talk) 10:23, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
It's been pointed out that mutationism is wider than saltationism (as well as being later), in that it covers both 1. (saltational) macromutation, and 2. the idea that mutation not natural selection drives evolution. I've accordingly undone the merge of the two articles. Mutationism is certainly a better article than it was, and remains in the GA queue, but I think it needs more work on aspect 2. The "history contradicts the party line" (Huxley, Mayr, Dobzhansky et al) thingy is as true of this as of modern synthesis; the MS team certainly knew how to spin a myth. Thoughts? Hook it out of the queue? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:05, 23 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – Just now I was reading the article on Japanese knot weed, and I came across a sentence that I think needs clarifying. It is the second sentence in the short second-to-last paragraph in Fallopia japonica#Japan:
Because of the way the second half of the sentence is constructed, it sounds like the outer skin must be soaked in water before being cooked. I think it must be only the shoots that must be peeled and soaked. I'm not sure how parboiling fits in. Is it "soaked or parboiled"? Do you feel like working on this? – Corinne ( talk) 16:30, 24 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was just looking at the latest edits to Gunflint chert and made a few copy-edits. I noticed the phrase "Gunflint flora" toward the end of the article, and I wondered if you had anything that could be added to this regarding the flora. – Corinne ( talk) 14:45, 26 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello Sminthopsis84. Mycoremediation was pointing to Bioremediation#Mycoremediation but, as I think the subject is big enough to deserve its own space, I deleted the redirect. As the article was, it made sense to incorporate it into Bioremediation, but I rewrote it all and I think now is decent. I am a new editor on wikipedia, and I read your comment about the redirect after I've done it. I should have ask for an opinion of yours before undoing your work, I am sorry about that, I'm learning. Meanwhile, if you think mycoremediation still doesn't deserve its own page, please let me know in the talk page and I'll revert it all.
All the best, Beleriandcrises ( talk) 16:58, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – Just wondered if you saw this edit to Araucaria araucana. Doesn't it depend upon what's in the source? – Corinne ( talk)
( talk page stalker) Corinne, yes it should be what is in the source (however, I'm getting a 404 error for the cited source). But the edit removing Brazil was undoing an edit from 23 August that added Brazil). Plantdrew ( talk) 16:18, 20 October 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis,
In reply to my post above about JavaScript, you replied:
Since then, I've produced some userscripts that actually work! I was wondering if you'd like to tinker around with them, and let me know what you think. You could treat them as an opportunity to learn JS—I've provided extensive notes about the source code on their talk pages that would be useful for this. Or you could beta test one or more of them and let me know if they work. I've only tested them with Firefox. Or you could dive into the source code and help figure out some of the problems.
So far, there is:
It is my objective to build a set of scripts that fully automate the process of creating outlines. This end goal is a long way off ( AI-complete?). In the meantime, I hope to increase productivity as much as I can. Fifty percent automation would double an editor's productivity. I think I could reach 80% automation (a five-fold increase in productivity) within a couple years.
There's more:
I look forward to your comments, questions, ideas, and suggestions. The Transhumanist 08:57, 26 October 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was just looking at the latest edits to Azadirachta indica, and something struck me. I realized that the second half of the first word of the species was very close to the Persian/Farsi word for "tree", so I did a little looking and found these sites, first, a listing of entries for "tree" and various types of trees, and second, the page linked at "tree":
If you look at tree in Sanskrit, it looks like "tree" has its roots in Sanskrit, and that "tree" and "derakt" share the same origins. The "t" of "tree" and "d" of "derakt" are variants that appear in different languages, and it's the consonants more than the vowels that indicate the common root: "tr" and "d...r". I just wonder from which language Azadirachta came from.
Another interesting thing is that the common name of this tree is "Neem tree". In Hindi, "neem" apparently means "perfect, complete, imperishable" neem , but in Persian/Farsi, it is one of two words that mean "half": [2]. Maybe it's really two unrelated words; apparently, "neem" in Hindi comes from "Nimba".
Well, I just thought you might find this interesting. – Corinne ( talk) 17:04, 13 November 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)
Compliments of the season Wishing you all the best for 2018 — good health, sufficient wealth, peace and contentment | ||
Cheers! ‑ ‑ Gareth Griffith‑Jones The Welsh Buzzard ‑ ‑ 18:21, 24 December 2017 (UTC) |
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was just looking at the latest to Big Woods, and I thought you might be able to resolve the issue raised by the editor who added the "dubious" tag. See also Talk:Big Woods#"Closed forest" savanna. Also, I think the prose in the Big Woods#Trees and native vegetation section could use some work. For example, in the first paragraph it says the Big Woods once would have covered a strip 100 miles long and 40 miles wide, but it doesn't say where, and in the second paragraph, it says:
I think the phrase "note the bright green color" is not clear. Is that referring to the bright green color of the leaves in the first image, or the narrow pie-wedge in the circle graph?
Also, the "a.d." needs fixing. Well, best wishes and Happy New Year! – Corinne ( talk) 16:30, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was reading the article on Rhododendrons, and then started reading Rhododendron sect. Vireya. I made a few small copy-edits, but there is a sentence that isn't quite clear to me, and I wondered if you or a tps would take a look at it. It is the first sentence in the section #Subdivision:
It is the last part that puzzles me. Brown et al...found
and rather
Because it reads: "Brown...found a lack of support...and rather a series of clades", I don't see the reason for the word "rather". I would normally use "rather" in something like this (I'm not saying this has to be the wording):
A more mundane example might be:
In other words, "rather" is usually used to indicate a contrast, and here, probably because of the word "and", I don't see a contrast.
Also, does one find clades? I thought botanists and zoologists create, or draw up, clades to illustrate evolutionary relationships. I guess I could understand one botanist finding clades drawn up earlier by other botanists in some dusty old tome in a library, but since it says, "using phylogenetic analysis", it doesn't seem to fit that image.
You know I know very little about botany, so I'll just have to leave this up to you. If I'm wrong, I'd be glad to learn why.
P.S. I have a question. The flowers in the first image in this article look so much like lilies, I was wondering if rhododendrons and lilies were related. – Corinne ( talk) 00:23, 28 January 2018 (UTC)
The leek is one of the national emblems of Wales, worn along with the daffodil (in Welsh, the daffodil is known as "Peter's leek", Cenhinen Bedr) on St. David's Day. According to one legend, King Cadwaladr of Gwynedd ordered his soldiers to identify themselves by wearing the vegetable on their helmets in an ancient battle against the Saxons that took place in a leek field. [1] Cheers!‑ ‑ Gareth Griffith‑Jones The Welsh Buzzard ‑ ‑ 15:55, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
References
I'm working on a study of political motivations and how they affect editing. I'd like to ask you to take a survey. The survey should take no more than 1-2 minutes. Your survey responses will be kept private. Our project is documented at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_%2B_Politics.
Your survey Link: https://uchicago.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9S3JByWf57fXEkR?Q_DL=56np5HpEZWkMlr7_9S3JByWf57fXEkR_MLRP_0GvcbUOgYrsMazz&Q_CHL=gl
I am asking you to participate in this study because you are a frequent editor of pages on Wikipedia that are of political interest. We would like to learn about your experiences in dealing with editors of different political orientations.
Sincere thanks for your help! Porteclefs ( talk) 16:50, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84, we discussed citrus taxonomy a while back (there's now some complete genomes out, and Agricolae made this marvelous diagram from the new data). On a completely different topic prompted by this talk page, may I ask your views on Meta:Community Wishlist Survey 2019/Editing/Editor retention aid? If I see them much before November 16th, I can incorporate suggestions (apologies for the short notice). HLHJ ( talk) 06:38, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Yet another evolution article in a heap. I'm doing the usual, but in this case the main structure of the article is almost entirely missing, and even the lead needs to be replaced. I've created 3 main sections, on Flowering plants (coevo with insects, birds); host-parasite coevo; reproductive coevo with figs; ... and suspect there are other major instances. Ants/acacias were already described, and are perhaps worthy of more; I wonder which other examples you think are major? I doubt if the lichens will count as the algal partners are pretty non-specific, for instance. And the models section is pretty rubbish at the moment. Ideas? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:13, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
While working on symbiogenesis I decided to investigate Konstantin Mereschkowski. Oh my! What a sad story. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 12:45, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
Pls see Talk:Pumpkin/Archive 1#Semi-protected_edit_request_on_31_January_2017 HalfGig talk 02:48, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
See this new article I'm working on. Note the taxonomy, which I generally find as I have it in the article. But there's also this taxon: http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0211.htm
Can you explain this to me? I haven't quite figured out if one is outdated or what. Wiki species has the one in the article. Feel free to edit the article. I'm working on adding info from the external links into the article. Beautiful flower. HalfGig talk 03:52, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
Yes, it is a tangle and horticulturists will be upset, but that could become a similar situation to Coleus with its head note "For the popular ornamental plant, see Plectranthus scutellarioides". Coleus is now mostly used as a common name. There is nothing listed in Proposals and disposals, which would mean that nobody has made a formal proposal to do one of those drastic things like conserving Mimulus with a new type. I'm not sure, though, which are the popular ornamental plants in "Mimulus"; the M. guttatus complex has been intensively studied, but as far as I know it is of more interest as a wild-flower than as an ornamental. The many-coloured ones would include the F2 and later generations from crossing red ones with yellow ones, and perhaps other products from clever plant breeding.
How about creating a page for Erythranthe, without undoing Mimulus, saying that the genus name has been set up for what has also been called Mimulus section Erythranthe, perhaps with a list of species in the section/genus? If someone wants to go in later and write a lot about it, that genus page could be a good support. I'd like to see some work being done on that because, for example, we have Mimulus_carsonensis set up in January this year, but supported by a citation called "A Revision of Erythranthe montioides and Erythranthe palmeri (Phrymaceae), with Descriptions of Five New Species from California and Nevada, USA". Not very tidy, that; one doesn't publish the new name Mimulus carsonensis by putting it in wikipedia (I hope nobody adds "nomen novum" to that page in some misguided attempt to circumvent the spirit of the Code of Nomenclature.) Ugh! I'm extremely busy IRL right now, but will try to move some of those to the Erythranthe names. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 04:32, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
Gosh, a question I can answer, I think. Morus (plant) is how WP names mulberries; Morus (bird) is how it names gannets. Seems a nice solid precedent, if that's what you need. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 22:26, 8 February 2017 (UTC)
So we need to set up a page for the genus Diplacus as well. Not monotypic. Not sure when I'll get to that. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 21:27, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
Please note that that change of the genus name Mimulus to other genera names is published in a non-peer reviewed journal that is edited by one of the authors of the paper. This is a major conflict of interest. No paper suggesting these genera changes has passed peer review and so is highly suspect in the eyes of the scientific community. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidbryantlowry ( talk • contribs) 16:15, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
Sminth and all talk page stalkers: I've moved these to article space and done a dual nom for DYK. Feel free to review. As for the last email about Latin names, etc, I've left the listings of old and new names at User:HalfGig/Erythranthe so we can still work on getting that info into the genus article. HalfGig talk 00:45, 12 February 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - Just wondered what you thought of this edit to Prahran, Victoria. Is the addition of "inner" necessary? Is it an improvement, or is it unnecessary? – Corinne ( talk) 00:56, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
All-Around Amazing Barnstar | ||
Sminth, I can't thank you enough for all the times you bail me out. Your superb work on botany articles can not be understated. You are a very kind, helpful, and courteous Wikipedian. Thanks so much for all your superb collaboration over the last few years! HalfGig talk 03:09, 15 February 2017 (UTC) |
Aw shucks. Thank you HalfGig, and thank you for dealing with these large taxonomic muddles which probably nobody else would have got around to tackling. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 03:36, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
I've been looking around for enough info to do other Erythranthe species articles but there seems to be paltry few sources on the ones that aren't done already. HalfGig talk 12:39, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
Dear editor, I'm relatively new on wikipedia, and was wondering if you could help me with an issue of the Epistasis-page: someone seems to have moved content from the page "Epistatis" ( /info/en/?search=Epistasis) to "Non-allelic_gene_interaction" ( /info/en/?search=Non-allelic_gene_interaction ), creating two exactly the same, or at least highly similar pages in the process. You seem to have worked on the Epistasis-page in the past: does it make sense to revert this edit/merge the pages/or are these really two different things?
JSHuisman ( talk) 13:24, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
Oh well. I've tried various ways to get the history merge done, but have failed. The good news is that the subject matter is no longer duplicated. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 10:07, 25 February 2017 (UTC)
Two years! |
---|
-- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 08:26, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
Please see today's post at User_talk:Casliber#Please_move_Erythranthe_aurantiacus. I feel horrible. HalfGig talk 13:40, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
Sminth and @ Chiswick Chap:...please look and the new Erythranthe section on diseases and pests. Can the statement "Diplacus, Erythranthe, and Mimulus are subject to a very similar set of pests and diseases" pass wiki muster or do we need to reword it or add more sources? Thanks. HalfGig talk 18:48, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
Sminth and Chiswick Chap...you may have noticed Guy Nesom has written a lot on M., D. and E.. This article I just found by him is golden: [1]. Over the next 1-2 days I'll incorporate it into the three genera articles. HalfGig talk 13:28, 20 February 2017 (UTC)
On 22 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Erythranthe, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Suksdorf's monkeyflower of the genus Erythranthe was named after the mostly self-taught immigrant botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf? You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, Erythranthe), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Coffee // have a cup // beans // 12:03, 22 February 2017 (UTC)
On 22 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Erythranthe suksdorfii, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Suksdorf's monkeyflower of the genus Erythranthe was named after the mostly self-taught immigrant botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf? You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, Erythranthe suksdorfii), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Coffee // have a cup // beans // 12:03, 22 February 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminth - Is this edit an improvement to Jack jumper ant? If so, I think a comma is needed. If "Southeastern Australia" is supposed to name a province, I suppose the original word order would be all right. If Tasmania should be considered a part of "southeastern Australia", then the new wording is right, with a comma. – Corinne ( talk) 04:44, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
Sminth, could you, @ Chiswick Chap:, and @ Peter coxhead: look over my draft at User:HalfGig/Erythranthe peregrina before I move it to article space? I'd especially appreciate a look to see if I got the genetics and other technical stuff right. Thank you. HalfGig talk 13:48, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
You probably have this article on your watch list, but in case you don't, you might be interested in reading Talk:Palynology#Suggestions. The suggestion is worded in such academic language that it makes little sense to me, but I guess you will understand it. – Corinne ( talk) 01:05, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I was reading today's featured article, and then looking at a few linked articles, and I found Beyeria. I noticed that there is no image for this article. Would it be possible to find one for the article? – Corinne ( talk) 00:45, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
I nom'd it for valued image on commons. We'll see what happens. HalfGig talk 13:58, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
Sminth, @ Chiswick Chap:, and @ Peter coxhead:. As you know I've been regularly working on improving Erythranthe. It and Asa Gray are waiting at GAC for a GA review. I've hit a brick wall and was wondering if you could look at Erythranthe and suggest and/or make improvement to get it to GA level. Thank you. HalfGig talk 01:33, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
I just added this to Diplacus from a 1905 source, HAHA: Diplacus used to be a separate genus from Mimulus but not later than 1905, it was merged into Mimulus until the 2012 restructuring. "cite journal|title=The Gardener's Magazine: Diplacus glutinosus|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FZdOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA741&lpg=PA741&dq=mimulus+culinary+use&source=bl&ots=k9xst6Q-na&sig=ENnBroFUsL6H6L1YZ3uz6in4gxY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMroaJ0MDSAhVU1mMKHQydD4Q4HhDoAQgbMAE#v=onepage&q=mimulus%20culinary%20use&f=false%7Clocation=London%7Cpublisher=Gardeners' Magazine Office|year=1905|page=741|volume=XLVIII|date=18 November 1905"
cardinalis. Greene (1885) reduced Erythranthe to a section of Mimulus " HalfGig talk 12:15, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I was just reading the article on Liquorice, and toward the end of the Liquorice#Food and candy section there is a tag that says "dubious - discuss". I thought perhaps you might be able to address this. Also, I see that there is a Liquorice#Folk medicine section. I wonder if the statement about the use of liquorice in folk medicine in Egypt that appears in the paragraph right before the one with the "dubious" tag should be moved there.
I also wonder whether you think this article could, or should, be expanded. If you think there is enough information in sources that could be added to this article, perhaps it would be a good candidate for nomination at WP:Today's articles for improvement. – Corinne ( talk) 15:22, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
I was just looking at the latest to Iron gall ink. Does vinegar contain citric acid? I thought it contained only acetic acid. – Corinne ( talk) 22:50, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
I've had a go at citing and reshaping Species into something vaguely acceptable. If people think it's worth a shot I'll put it up for GA, but would be pleased to hear what may be missing from what is quite a slippery and rambling concept. I've had some, er, interesting comments already, but even they are grudgingly coming around! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:33, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
P.S. Species led me inevitably to Hybrid (biology), a shocking mess. I'll take a slasher to it now. Again, suggestions for creative destruction welcomed. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:39, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
On 14 March 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Erythranthe peregrina, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Erythranthe peregrina (pictured) is a rare example of a species developing in multiple locations from parents that normally produce sterile hybrids? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Erythranthe peregrina. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, Erythranthe peregrina), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Mifter ( talk) 12:02, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
I'm sure this is one of your favorites, enjoy:
I'm wrestling with this minotaur of a beast. Any suggestions for how it should be organised? It rambles about without quite repeating itself, so it's probably tetraploid itself... Would love to get it into better shape but can't see how. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:51, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
I've split the rather large list of plant hybrids out as a new article. Every entry in the table is cited to authorities ....... but the words of Bloggs 1921 and Doe 1951 are not expanded anywhere (nor were they in the original article). Might someone with botanical knowledge care to lend a hand? Tedious, I know, but we are putting things in order. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:54, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
My fruit tree blossoms bloomed a month early due to global warming. Then last week that Canadian Arctic air mass damaged much of my peach, plum, and pear blossoms (persimmons hadn't bloomed yet). I think they'll all still have some fruit, but right now I'd call it moderate damage. ☹️ HalfGig talk 12:55, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminth, a very keen student determined I think to get a top grade has added some carefully cited stuff at Convergent evolution#Methods of detection. I've carefully copy-edited it to remove grammatical inelegancies, duplication, and upper case. I think I nearly understand some of it, but not the crucial distinction at the top, given how it's explained. Thoughts? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:17, 1 April 2017 (UTC)
Ah, another bunch of students over at crop diversity, well spotted. The citations are fine (if over-documented) but the text tends to be little better than waffle. It seems more and more bunches of them descend on us each academic year. I blame their lecturers! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 11:28, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
Aaargh. Do you think an editor's recent efforts on Function (biology) are an improvement? They're trying to distinguish between its roles in adaptation and in natural selection, which one might have compared to trying to distinguish between "drumkit" and "loud noise". But I'd be curious to hear your op. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 07:47, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
Is there any good reason why we have two such similar articles? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 18:36, 6 April 2017 (UTC)
I've had fun tracking down some of the, er, many crackpot theories in the area, and making a table of them. I don't know why I find this so amusing, but I do. On the other hand, Ruse is so opinionated I'm not sure I can face reading him. Maybe dip in here and there. Happy Easter! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 13:49, 15 April 2017 (UTC)
Thanks for looking in on this - I've gone ahead and removed the stray item from the table, you might like to keep an eye in case it recurs on the talk page. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 09:03, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
I've rewritten this ... would be curious to know what you think it needs? The controversy bit is left over from the years B.M. (Before Me...) and smells like a WP:COATRACK, should probably be a separate article: but the detailed reviews are starting to make its more OR-ish conclusions unnecessary, perhaps. I'm uncertain whether to try to summarize the chapters. The lead is problematic, too, but extending it isn't easy. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 19:49, 8 April 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis84,
You reviewed the section I added to the Convergent Evolution page on methods. Thanks for your edits. It seems like you helped clear some things up. However, I noticed that you removed a pretty substantial amount of content regarding programs that can be used to infer convergence events. I thought this might have been a helpful section in case students or researchers were interested in learning what available resources there are for these types of methods. I wanted to clarify why this section needed to be removed. Additionally, I noticed that a particular section was removed and you commented that the material was not keeping with wikipedia's aim to be an encyclopedia. I was not sure why this was the case. Would you please clarify? I also wanted to add that windex is an R package to infer convergence since you commented that it was not: windex
Thanks again for your review.
Ahernandez6 ( talk) 14:36, 10 April 2017 (UTC)
Draft:Arthur J. Boucot is good enough for main space, although it needs a lot more about his actually work, especially his later career. It does reveal a lot of deficiencies in Wikipedia paleontology articles. -- 2601:648:8503:4467:41:BDE2:B17:E095 ( talk) 20:33, 13 April 2017 (UTC)
Hi, I've drafted a new article on something that was definitely big between 1859 and 1940! Would be delighted to hear what you think of it, and how it could be improved. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:17, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
Glad to know that you help new wikipedians for editing. I am a new one. however I worked wiki in regional language. It is earnest request to you to peruse the pages what i have created and enrich make edit as per your kind opinion. How can I get the autopatrolling facilities in Eng wikipedia? Pinakpani ( talk) 10:59, 27 April 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I was just reading the article on Cornus mas, and I noticed a tag "According to whom?" in the Cornus mas#Garden history section that has been there since April 2016. I wonder if you could answer the question. – Corinne ( talk) 22:59, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
This article is too technical for me:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.13091/full
if you have time could you look at it and incorporate it into Erythranthe? If possible, the description section could use some beefing up. Hope you are well. Thank you. HalfGig talk 13:10, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
My latest article is still a work in progress, but is approaching a reasonable shape; it needs a lead and overview. Would be curious to know what you think of the table in particular, and what is missing from it. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 14:42, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
Is mutationism any different from saltationism? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 15:40, 7 May 2017 (UTC)
Still wrestling with mutationism - there's a huge Goldschmidtian coatrack. Maybe I'll get the axe from the toolshed. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 07:54, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
Do you think the evolution of humans is crossing over from biological evolution to technological evolution of the species?
That is, changing of the nature of man biologically via technology?
What are your thoughts on this? The Transhumanist 16:00, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
I found you listed at Category:User js-1 (probably because you posted the corresponding userbox on your user page), and thought you might be interested in improving your skills by getting involved with developing user scripts, hobnobbing with other JavaScript programmers, and organizing and improving JavaScript articles and support pages.
We do all of that and more at the JavaScript WikiProject.
Scripts undergoing development, and the state of JavaScript on Wikipedia, are discussed on the talk page.
For an overview of JavaScript coverage on Wikipedia, see Draft:Outline of JavaScript and Index of JavaScript-related articles. For everything on user scripts, see User:The Transhumanist/Outline of scripts.
The WikiProject also organizes every resource it can find about JavaScript out there, such as articles, books, tutorials, etc. See our growing Reference library.
If you would like to join the JavaScript WikiProject, feel free to add your name to the participants list.
Hope to see you there! The Transhumanist 16:00, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 04:00, 14 May 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 -- I've just finished copy-editing Apatosaurus. I was surprised that an article would be placed on the main page before it was thoroughly copy-edited. I found errors right in the lead, which I fixed and then continued reading. I wonder if you could look at the last sentence in Apatosaurus#Paleoecology. It's also now the last sentence in the article:
I was puzzled by "of tree ferns and ferns". I think this might be confusing to an average reader. I wonder if you could link the terms or briefly clarify the difference between them. – Corinne ( talk) 03:37, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
Are the Henna and Tea plants related? I couldn't find any information about this in either article. In the tea article, the only images of a complete tea plant are old drawings. Would it be possible to add a clear photo of a tea plant? – Corinne ( talk) 21:24, 20 May 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 - I came across the article on the Ranni Forest Division. I noticed that in the section Ranni Forest Division#Index of flora and fauna, there is a list of flora that exist in the Ranni Forest Division. It is rather a long list, but I noticed that none of the species was linked, and I wonder if the species is supposed to be in italics. If you or any talk page stalker has time, perhaps you could improve this list. Best regards, – Corinne ( talk) 16:14, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
Continuing my series on the philosophy of evolutionary biology, I note that we have two muddled articles on adaptation, indeed two that attempt both to define it and to describe its philosophy. I'm not sure I can distinguish adaptationism from Darwinism, though Mr D was also Lamarckian... Do you think we need two articles, and how should coverage be structured? Most of the other articles are now much improved though I'm having a long wait for reviewers! Chiswick Chap ( talk) 11:19, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
Hi, could you look on this. We have a doubt whether this is Hosta 'Yellow Splash Rim' or some other Hosta sieboldiana cultivar. J e e 03:18, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
There are discussions ongoing about whether Mallard should discuss the place of that duck in human culture, and whether the domestic duck counts as a mallard; and about how many images should be included in Desert cottontail. You are invited to contribute. Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:30, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
Would you mind reading my recent comment at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style#That vs. which for restrictive clauses? I don't really know what is considered acceptable in Canadian and Australian English – I just assumed both "which" and "that" were acceptable, as they seem to be in British English – so perhaps I shouldn't have written what I did regarding those variants of English without first checking. If I am wrong in what I wrote, I'd be glad if you would correct me there. – Corinne ( talk) 23:25, 29 June 2017 (UTC)
Hello. Can you help keep an eye on this article? Some editors come and revert important content without explanation.-- Fez Cap 12 ( talk) 03:21, 5 July 2017 (UTC)
Hey, I just wanted to talk to you about my edit to Epithet. I was wondering what you'd suggest, because I work as a linguist, and prescriptive linguistics isn't really a thing, or at least, is a representation of the field which is grounded in popular culture as "what linguistics is" but is actually only limited to non-linguistics talking about language. I'm always looking for better ways to explain how linguistics is inherently descriptive, so I was wondering if you had any better wording suggestions. Otherwise, I'd like to go back to "prescriptivists", so as to not perpetuate the misunderstanding. RSXS ( talk) 20:09, 28 July 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis84 and others watching - I'm a Wikipedia virgin and bamboozled by wikipedia processes, but would like to contribute as a subject specialist (despite the warnings you emphatically give). In fact I am motivated right now by the state of the Function (biology) page, having recently published what may become a landmark paper on the topic (which I know is a paradoxical counter-indicator). Since I don't know how to behave properly or use Wiki procedures, I prefer to show you a draft here and ask for your advice. I see you have been involved in the development of the page already.
Here it is: (unformatted). Please let me know if you are willing to help me edit the page, or wish to take any of this material and do it yourself.
Thanks, Keith. Keith df ( talk) 13:41, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
An update on Biological Function for Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A biological function is something a living system (e.g. an organism, organ or cell) does in the context of a wider system, with a (usually assumed positive) effect on that system. For example, the function of chlorophyll in a plant is to capture the energy of sunlight via photosynthesis,[9] and this contributes to the biological fitness of the plant.
In more formal and general terms: function is an objective account of the contribution made by a system’s component to the ‘capacity’ of the whole system (Cummins, 1975). Function specifically refers to a process which at minimum must be a) causal (a function causes an effect to happen) and b) the effect must be in a higher organisational structure. Most biologists consider it also must be c) selected at the level of the organism. Recognising the nested hierarchical structure of biological systems (molecules in networks; networks in cellular processes; cells in organisms; organisms in ecological communities), Farnsworth et al. (2017) defined biological function as:
“A biological function is a process enacted by a biological system A at emergent level n which influences one or more processes of a system B at level n+1, of which A is a component part.
Biological functions exist at the levels of molecular, cellular, organism and community organisation so function is an important concept in genetics, physiology, animal behaviour and ecology. By tracing functional effects through the nested hierarchy leading from one to the next higher emergent level, a function at the molecular level can be seen as functional at an ecological level. This is made concrete by metagenomic functional analysis (e.g. Huttenhower et al 2012) which reveals the effects of genes having community-level “ecological” function.
In genetics, coding, regulatory (e.g. promotor) and punctuation components of genes are often considered functional, whereas much of the remainder: introns, pseudo-genes etc. are considered “junk DNA” Kellis et al., 2014. By far the majority of base-pairs in eukaryotic DNA appear to be non-functional, though they may have (or previously had) an effect on the species to which they belong. Transposable elements are an important example of this (Bowen and Jordan 2002).
Doolittle et al., (2014) clarified the range of potential meanings of function in molecular biology and genetics. The most justifiable assignment of function to a DNA element, they argued, was where selection at the organism level was demonstrated. This is only a subset of cases where a causal role has been established. Alternatives include a) selection at higher or lower emergent levels, b) neutral (non-selective) processes, which frequently ratchet their way into conserved stability, and c) spandrels (the term used by Gould and Lewontin (1979) for by-products of selection). Doolittle et al. (2014) distinguished the spandrels from “mere effects”, which play no causal role in the system to which they belong: spandrels play an unintended and perhaps irrelevant causal role (e.g. the ‘thumping sound’ of the heart).
Most ecologists believe the adaptionist view of function does not apply to ecological function because communities of organisms do not evolve (Nunes-Neto et al. 2014). Jax (2005) resolved the use of the word ‘function’ in ecology into four broad meanings: 1) individual-level processes, such as a particular predation event; 2) systemic processes, such as nitrogen uptake; 3) individual ‘roles’ defining ‘functional groups’ of organisms, including their contribution to a higher level of organisation, such as the guild of detritivores, or simply a phenotypic (often life-history) category and 4) effects of the activity of working ecosystems that impinge on human society, leading to ecosystem services (note that only (3) above conforms to the Cummins (1975) definition. A major use of functional concepts in Ecology is identifying the Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function relationship.
At first sight, the variety of biological functions (e.g. from an enzyme’s activity to the grooming behaviour of mammals) suggests that no unifying currency would be available to quantify functioning. Farnsworth et al (2017) suggested that if all biological functions are by definition a contribution to a “master function” and if this “master function” is interpreted as the growth of biological material (by reproduction and cell replication), then biomass production could serve as a universal currency for biological functions of all kinds at all levels of biological organisation. At the level of organism, this translates to Darwinian fitness, at the ecological level, to total production rate (which is the usual metric of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function studies).
Main article: Tinbergen's four questions
Assuming animal behaviours to be functional, the ethologist Niko Tinbergen proposed four questions, based on Aristotle's Four Causes,[11] that a biologist could ask to help explain a behaviour (though they have been generalised to a wider scope).
The philosophy of biological function is part of the philosophy of biology and, more broadly the philosophy of science. Philosophical definitions of biological function divide into those based on etiological and those based on causal role arguments. Karen Neander (2011) identified four branches of philosophical argument: a) Etiological; b) Systemic; c) Propensity; and d) Statistical. The essential insight transforming teleological and normative descriptions into more scientifically objective ones, is the recognition that evolution selects and shapes system components according to their positive contribution to organism fitness. Thus a function of X is identified as a feature of X that confers greater life-time reproductive success (Darwinian fitness) to the organism of which X is a part, than if that organism were without X. This etiological idea is broadly accepted for all but ecological systems because for these, natural selection is not expected (e.g. Wright 1998[1973] quoted in Nunes-Neto et al 2014).
Epistemological approaches and how etiological differs from systemic and organisational (Nunes-Neto et al 2014).
Teleological language is often used by biologists as a shorthand way of describing function, even though its applicability is disputed.[10]
Scientific accounts of phenomena conventionally rule out teleological language because it is considered subjective and anthropocentric. But most (thoughtful and precise) definitions of biological function still imply goal-directedness (purpose) and normative value (goodness as opposed to badness) (Van Hateren 2017). With the obvious exception of human-made artifacts, such teleological connotations seem only to apply to living systems. The question of whether biological functions are merely epistemic (where function is ascribed only by human perception and thought) or ontological (where function denotes autonomous causal efficacy) is central to the validity of their teleological interpretation (Van Hateren 2017). This is a difficult and not completely resolved problem, but several thinkers in the field are coalescing around the idea that constraints closure (Nunes-Neto et al 2014), or causal closure (Farnsworth et al. 2017) is the attribute which gives living organisms uniquely teleolonomic properties. These closure conditions are both stronger special cases of organizational closure, whereby a component serves the organization of a whole to which it belongs and the whole gives rise to the component: this concept of whole-part interdependence (termed the “Kantian whole” by Stuart Kauffman) is ascribed to Emanuel Kant. In this interpretation, function only makes sense as an attribute of a component of a causally (or constraint) closed system and the only known systems with that property are living ones.
It is possible to avoid teleological connotations in biological function by strictly limiting it to an epistemic account of the effects of processes that have been naturally selected for at the organism level via evolution (Doolittle et al., 2014), though Van Hateren 2017 constructed an argument for ontological function (implying telological meaning) from this natural selection requirement. In the mainstream philosophy of biology, evolution is considered a blind process which has no 'goal' for the future. For example, a tree does not grow flowers for any purpose, but does so simply because it has evolved to do so. To say 'a tree grows flowers to attract pollinators' would be incorrect if the 'to' implies purpose. A function describes what something does, not what its 'purpose' is.
One problem with removing teleological and normative connotations from biological function is that it appears to admit dysfunction into the definition. Neander (1991) suggested natural selection, as the criterion which separates function from dysfunction and others have come to the same conclusion. Mayr (1974) referred to teleomatic processes (directed by ‘natural laws’, hence deterministic and including abiotic processes) as well as teleonomic process (which Mayr defined as “goal-directed” and characteristic of living systems). Farnsworth et al 2017 used the concept of ‘master function’ (the function of the top-level of the system), against which all other functions may be measured: this more quantitative approach allows dysfunction as negative function, the negative value measuring the degree to which a component process counters the master function (which they suggested to be maximising biomass production). This use of the master-function only makes sense in the context of a system for which a ‘goal’ can be envisioned, but the goal is not a teleological one, it is merely a statement of the maximum rate of the process identified as the master function (i.e. it is objective). Any component, or any process, which negatively influences the operation of the master function can be regarded as counter-teleonomic (in the Mayr (1974) sense).
Since a function is a processes, potentially more than one living system can perform it, leading to functional redundancy and the possibility of substitution. This idea is formalised by the concept of functional equivalence class (FEC) (Table 1), which has grown from analysis of biochemical networks. The FEC was defined by Auletta et al., (2008) as a set of biochemical ‘operations’ having effects in common which are relevant to ‘goals’. The FEC consists of all operations (behaviours or processes) having the effect in question and this is context-dependent because an effect always depends on the nature of both the subject and the object. For example, the DNA sequences and corresponding protein structures of alcohol dehydrogenases in vertebrates bear no similarity with those of Drosophila and they work through different chemical reactions, but achieve the same end result of removing hydrogen from alcohol (Doolittle 1994). Functional redundancy is a controversial topic in community ecology related to the biodiversity-ecosystem function question. If functional redundancy does exist within ecosystems, it is usually regarded as an insurance against damage Yachi and Loreau, 1999.
Auletta, G., et al. 2008. Top-down causation by information control: From a philosophical problem to a scientific research programme. - J. R. Soc. Interface 5, 1159–1172.
Bowen, N. and Jordan, I. K. (2002). Transposable elements and the evolution of eukaryotic complexity. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol., 4:65–76.
Cummins, R. 1975. Functional analysis. - J. Philos. 72(20):741–765.
Doolittle W. F. et al. 2014. Distinguishing between "Function" and "Effect" in genome biology. - Genome Biol. Evol. 6: 1234-1237.
Farnsworth, K.D.; Albantakis, L.; Caruso, T. 2017. Unifying concepts of biological function from molecules to ecosystems. - Oikos. doi: 10.1111/oik.04171
Gould S. J. and Lewontin R. C. 1979. The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. - Proc. R. Soc. B. 205:581–598.
Huttenhower et al. 2012. Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome. Nature 486:207-214.
Jax, K. 2005. Function and "functioning" in ecology: what does it mean? - Oikos 3:641-648.
Kauffman, S. A. 1986. Autocatalytic sets of proteins. - J. Theor. Biol. 119:1-24.
Kellis M, et al. 2014. Defining functional DNA elements in the human genome. - Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 111:6131–6138.
Mayr, E. 1974. Teleological and Teleonomic: A New Analysis. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 14: 91 -117.
Nunes-Neto, N., Moreno, A., & El Hani, C. N. (2014). Function in ecology: An organizational approach. Biology and Philosophy, 29(1), 123–141.
van Hateren, J. H. 2017. A unifying theory of biological function. Biol. Theory 12:112-126 (2017); doi:10.1007/s13752-017-0261-y
Wright L (1973) Functions. Philos Rev 82:139–168.
Yachi, S. and M. Loreau. 1999. Biodiversity and ecosystem productivity in a fluctuating environment: The insurance hypothesis. - Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96:1463-1468. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Keith df ( talk • contribs) 13:31, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
( talk page stalker)Hello, Keith df! Welcome to Wikipedia. I agree with Sminthopsis84 that it would be a good idea to make small edits to articles for a while just to get a feel for how Wikipedia works. If no one has yet posted a welcome on your talk page, I will, and it will include links to helpful pages where you can read and learn about editing, policies, guidelines, etc. I suggest that you save everything you wrote above to your Sandbox (you'll see it as a tab at the top of your page), which is a kind of worksheet space. You can invite other editors to work with you, or review and comment upon your drafts, etc., before adding something to an article. It is easy to create new section headings in your Sandbox: just put any heading between pairs of two or three equals signs:== Heading here ==. The more equals signs you use, the smaller the font in the heading, so use three or four for sub-sections, one to three for larger headings. (A heading is created for you when you type in a subject to begin a new section on an article talk page or user talk page.) You'll get to know other editors interested in the same topics that you are. One experienced biology editor is Apokryltaros, who might be able to help you. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to try and answer them, or direct you to an editor who can, or to a page where you can find the answer. Don't forget to sign your posts (comments) with four tildes, which look like this: ~~~~. Best regards, – Corinne ( talk) 15:54, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
Thanks folks. I was hoping to be able to provide an up to date, accurate and comprehensive entry in Wikipedia. Your responses have reinforced the warnings (e.g. from Sminthopsis84) that Wikipedia is not designed for subject specialists and experts to do this. I therefore think it best for me to leave the well informed material that I have done and let the Wikipedia experienced people work with it as and when they wish. I will keep an eye on my account so I can respond to requests and questions in theoretical biology, ecology, complexity and network theory and related philosophy. The specific phrases commented on above, by the way (thanks for the advice) were quotations, so I cannot change them. Thanks agian. 143.117.62.164 ( talk) 11:21, 3 August 2017 (UTC) Keith_df
Hello, Sminthopsis. I've been doing some work on Pentadiplandra, which I hoped to improve to make it all-round rather than one-issue. User:Zefr however, has deleted a large part of the additions just 19 minutes after I made them, claiming these additions to be unsourced or based on unreliable sources. I think this is not enough time to be able to check if information is well-sourced. Zefr's contributions show he is specialised in removing lots of text in many different articles. Rather than starting an argument with Zefr, I rather ask the opinion of an experienced wikipedian like you. Could you please have a look to see whether you think Zefr is right? Thank you in advance, Dwergenpaartje ( talk) 16:22, 3 August 2017 (UTC)
I notice that there is a request for a copy-edit at Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Requests, with an accompanying note saying that several sections have been worked on. I recall our discussing this article a little over a year ago, at User talk:Corinne/Archive 21#Bangladesh. I wonder if you would take a look at the article, and perhaps also some of the recent changes, and give me your opinion as to whether the article has become stable enough to make it worthwhile to copy-edit this article again. – Corinne ( talk) 02:15, 4 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello Sminthopsis84,
The article i created almost a year agp was now deleted within 2 weeks of me being on vacation... I thought the article was quite precise in adding onto the article Biological Monitoring Article which now has grown quite alot. Could i request an undo for the deletion and fill in the sources that was asked? Evicos ( talk) 15:48, 15 August 2017 (UTC)
The article was unfortunatly put up for speedy deletion, which means it is no longer available in cache. I do however want to try and re-implement it at some point. I can try and rewrite it... Will there be a problem if i recreate a newly deleted page? p.s there was no discussion... Evicos ( talk) 11:48, 18 August 2017 (UTC)
Articles that you have been involved in editing— Monotypic taxon and Monospecificity—have been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. Nessie ( talk) 16:01, 17 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I came across something interesting in the third paragraph of Oyashio Current. It explains why "despite its present climate being much colder than most of Europe, East Asia has retained 96 percent of Pliocene tree genera, whereas Europe has retained only 27%". I wanted to read more about Pliocene tree genera, so I clicked on the link at Pliocene, and looked in the Pliocene#Paleogeography and Pliocene#Flora sections, but there was nothing about this or the trees. Is there an article where I could find out more about trees that survived in East Asia but not in Europe? – Corinne ( talk) 21:20, 19 August 2017 (UTC) Hi Corinne, those articles are very deficient in citations. I don't think we have any real floristic coverage here, and such information as exists would be on pages about individual tree genera, and not much of that. The reconstruction of the geographic origins of plants is recent science, based on very few fossils, but since the Pliocene is not all that long ago, and the continents have not moved very much since then,I would think that the inference is based on current genus diversity in Europe and Asia. Sminthopsis84 ( talk) 13:23, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis84, I'm busy trying to get Modern synthesis through GAN and have restructured the article accordingly. The basic issue is that the thing was pushed by Huxley and Mayr, rewriting history to suit their narratives, so the story as commonly understood represents their position(s) rather than what had happened; and things haven't grown easier since, with many other interpretations. I've tried to stay clear of historiography by just describing who did what when. Would be grateful if you could take a look and offer any suggestions. I'm not sure if the reviewer is staying around, either... Chiswick Chap ( talk) 10:23, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
It's been pointed out that mutationism is wider than saltationism (as well as being later), in that it covers both 1. (saltational) macromutation, and 2. the idea that mutation not natural selection drives evolution. I've accordingly undone the merge of the two articles. Mutationism is certainly a better article than it was, and remains in the GA queue, but I think it needs more work on aspect 2. The "history contradicts the party line" (Huxley, Mayr, Dobzhansky et al) thingy is as true of this as of modern synthesis; the MS team certainly knew how to spin a myth. Thoughts? Hook it out of the queue? Chiswick Chap ( talk) 08:05, 23 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – Just now I was reading the article on Japanese knot weed, and I came across a sentence that I think needs clarifying. It is the second sentence in the short second-to-last paragraph in Fallopia japonica#Japan:
Because of the way the second half of the sentence is constructed, it sounds like the outer skin must be soaked in water before being cooked. I think it must be only the shoots that must be peeled and soaked. I'm not sure how parboiling fits in. Is it "soaked or parboiled"? Do you feel like working on this? – Corinne ( talk) 16:30, 24 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was just looking at the latest edits to Gunflint chert and made a few copy-edits. I noticed the phrase "Gunflint flora" toward the end of the article, and I wondered if you had anything that could be added to this regarding the flora. – Corinne ( talk) 14:45, 26 August 2017 (UTC)
Hello Sminthopsis84. Mycoremediation was pointing to Bioremediation#Mycoremediation but, as I think the subject is big enough to deserve its own space, I deleted the redirect. As the article was, it made sense to incorporate it into Bioremediation, but I rewrote it all and I think now is decent. I am a new editor on wikipedia, and I read your comment about the redirect after I've done it. I should have ask for an opinion of yours before undoing your work, I am sorry about that, I'm learning. Meanwhile, if you think mycoremediation still doesn't deserve its own page, please let me know in the talk page and I'll revert it all.
All the best, Beleriandcrises ( talk) 16:58, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – Just wondered if you saw this edit to Araucaria araucana. Doesn't it depend upon what's in the source? – Corinne ( talk)
( talk page stalker) Corinne, yes it should be what is in the source (however, I'm getting a 404 error for the cited source). But the edit removing Brazil was undoing an edit from 23 August that added Brazil). Plantdrew ( talk) 16:18, 20 October 2017 (UTC)
Hi Sminthopsis,
In reply to my post above about JavaScript, you replied:
Since then, I've produced some userscripts that actually work! I was wondering if you'd like to tinker around with them, and let me know what you think. You could treat them as an opportunity to learn JS—I've provided extensive notes about the source code on their talk pages that would be useful for this. Or you could beta test one or more of them and let me know if they work. I've only tested them with Firefox. Or you could dive into the source code and help figure out some of the problems.
So far, there is:
It is my objective to build a set of scripts that fully automate the process of creating outlines. This end goal is a long way off ( AI-complete?). In the meantime, I hope to increase productivity as much as I can. Fifty percent automation would double an editor's productivity. I think I could reach 80% automation (a five-fold increase in productivity) within a couple years.
There's more:
I look forward to your comments, questions, ideas, and suggestions. The Transhumanist 08:57, 26 October 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was just looking at the latest edits to Azadirachta indica, and something struck me. I realized that the second half of the first word of the species was very close to the Persian/Farsi word for "tree", so I did a little looking and found these sites, first, a listing of entries for "tree" and various types of trees, and second, the page linked at "tree":
If you look at tree in Sanskrit, it looks like "tree" has its roots in Sanskrit, and that "tree" and "derakt" share the same origins. The "t" of "tree" and "d" of "derakt" are variants that appear in different languages, and it's the consonants more than the vowels that indicate the common root: "tr" and "d...r". I just wonder from which language Azadirachta came from.
Another interesting thing is that the common name of this tree is "Neem tree". In Hindi, "neem" apparently means "perfect, complete, imperishable" neem , but in Persian/Farsi, it is one of two words that mean "half": [2]. Maybe it's really two unrelated words; apparently, "neem" in Hindi comes from "Nimba".
Well, I just thought you might find this interesting. – Corinne ( talk) 17:04, 13 November 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)
Compliments of the season Wishing you all the best for 2018 — good health, sufficient wealth, peace and contentment | ||
Cheers! ‑ ‑ Gareth Griffith‑Jones The Welsh Buzzard ‑ ‑ 18:21, 24 December 2017 (UTC) |
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was just looking at the latest to Big Woods, and I thought you might be able to resolve the issue raised by the editor who added the "dubious" tag. See also Talk:Big Woods#"Closed forest" savanna. Also, I think the prose in the Big Woods#Trees and native vegetation section could use some work. For example, in the first paragraph it says the Big Woods once would have covered a strip 100 miles long and 40 miles wide, but it doesn't say where, and in the second paragraph, it says:
I think the phrase "note the bright green color" is not clear. Is that referring to the bright green color of the leaves in the first image, or the narrow pie-wedge in the circle graph?
Also, the "a.d." needs fixing. Well, best wishes and Happy New Year! – Corinne ( talk) 16:30, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84 – I was reading the article on Rhododendrons, and then started reading Rhododendron sect. Vireya. I made a few small copy-edits, but there is a sentence that isn't quite clear to me, and I wondered if you or a tps would take a look at it. It is the first sentence in the section #Subdivision:
It is the last part that puzzles me. Brown et al...found
and rather
Because it reads: "Brown...found a lack of support...and rather a series of clades", I don't see the reason for the word "rather". I would normally use "rather" in something like this (I'm not saying this has to be the wording):
A more mundane example might be:
In other words, "rather" is usually used to indicate a contrast, and here, probably because of the word "and", I don't see a contrast.
Also, does one find clades? I thought botanists and zoologists create, or draw up, clades to illustrate evolutionary relationships. I guess I could understand one botanist finding clades drawn up earlier by other botanists in some dusty old tome in a library, but since it says, "using phylogenetic analysis", it doesn't seem to fit that image.
You know I know very little about botany, so I'll just have to leave this up to you. If I'm wrong, I'd be glad to learn why.
P.S. I have a question. The flowers in the first image in this article look so much like lilies, I was wondering if rhododendrons and lilies were related. – Corinne ( talk) 00:23, 28 January 2018 (UTC)
The leek is one of the national emblems of Wales, worn along with the daffodil (in Welsh, the daffodil is known as "Peter's leek", Cenhinen Bedr) on St. David's Day. According to one legend, King Cadwaladr of Gwynedd ordered his soldiers to identify themselves by wearing the vegetable on their helmets in an ancient battle against the Saxons that took place in a leek field. [1] Cheers!‑ ‑ Gareth Griffith‑Jones The Welsh Buzzard ‑ ‑ 15:55, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
References
I'm working on a study of political motivations and how they affect editing. I'd like to ask you to take a survey. The survey should take no more than 1-2 minutes. Your survey responses will be kept private. Our project is documented at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_%2B_Politics.
Your survey Link: https://uchicago.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9S3JByWf57fXEkR?Q_DL=56np5HpEZWkMlr7_9S3JByWf57fXEkR_MLRP_0GvcbUOgYrsMazz&Q_CHL=gl
I am asking you to participate in this study because you are a frequent editor of pages on Wikipedia that are of political interest. We would like to learn about your experiences in dealing with editors of different political orientations.
Sincere thanks for your help! Porteclefs ( talk) 16:50, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
Hello, Sminthopsis84, we discussed citrus taxonomy a while back (there's now some complete genomes out, and Agricolae made this marvelous diagram from the new data). On a completely different topic prompted by this talk page, may I ask your views on Meta:Community Wishlist Survey 2019/Editing/Editor retention aid? If I see them much before November 16th, I can incorporate suggestions (apologies for the short notice). HLHJ ( talk) 06:38, 11 November 2018 (UTC)