igor pavlinov | Lomonosov Moscow State Unoversity, Center for International Education (original) (raw)
Papers by igor pavlinov
Russian Journal of Theriology
Variation and covariation of the molar crown elements of prismatic dentition in the genus Ondatra... more Variation and covariation of the molar crown elements of prismatic dentition in the genus Ondatra (Mammalia: Rodentia: Arvicolinae) was studied numerically by means of geometric morphometric and cluster analyses. 31 elements were identified in total, their shapes were described by semilandmarks, their covariation patterns were analyzed by cluster analysis of vectorized Procrustes distance matrices with bootstrap estimations of cluster supports. Within-tooth comparisons recognize the modules that combine crown elements corresponding to the opposing pairs of cusps characteristic of generalized cricetine dentition. Results of comparison of crown elements within each toothrow indicate that integration effect, uniting homologous elements in adjacent teeth into dispersed modules, may be stronger than that uniting opposing elements in the same teeth. Comparison of crown elements of upper and lower toothrows reveals covariation of anterior part of lower M1 and posterior part of upper M3, which underwent coherent complication in the arvicoline evolution. It is concluded that the approach, based on combination of elementaristic GM-description of dental crowns and cluster analysis of covariations of their elements, may become an important tool for exploration of integration patterns of specialized dentition in herbivorous mammals.
Species and speciation. Analysis of new views and trends
The modern species problem in biology is defined as a contradiction between the need for general ... more The modern species problem in biology is defined as a contradiction between the need for general notion of the species having a unified contents in various branches of biology, and impossibility to reach it. Any species concept becomes biologically valid under conditions of a biologically sound basic theory, which defines what is the species in a general case and why and how does it come to existence. There a hierarchy of species concepts and definition exist, with a most general «ideal» concept (a kind of «species theory») belonging to its highest level of generality. No such concept is known to exist at the moment; one of its version could be elaborated within a theoretical framework of synergetic model of developing and structuring biota, with the species being an element of the biota’s structure. A number of particular contentwise species concepts belong to the middle level of that hierarchy, each corresponding to a particular aspect of consideration of the biota’s structure. Di...
Close Document Image Close Document Printer Image Print This Document! Conservation Information N... more Close Document Image Close Document Printer Image Print This Document! Conservation Information Network (BCIN). Author: Rossolimo, Olga L.;Pavlinov, Igor Ja. Editor: Rose, Carolyn L.;Williams, Stephen L.;Gisbert, Julio ...
На примере 8 видов бурозубок (род Sorex) рассмотрены возможности использования количественных мет... more На примере 8 видов бурозубок (род Sorex) рассмотрены возможности использования количественных методов геометрической морфометрии при изучении межвидовой и внутривидовой изменчивости их верхних промежуточных зубов. Показано, что у большинства видов специфика строения переднего отдела зубного ряда определяется соотношением вершин промежуточных зубов, у некоторых - общими пропорциями переднего отдела зубного ряда. Общий характер внутривидовых различий у 4 изученных видов достаточно сходен. У S. araneus выявлена значительная изменчивость конфигурации вершин промежуточных зубов, отчасти “перекрывающая” межвидовые различия.
Individual variation, several forms of group variation (differences between wild and domesticated... more Individual variation, several forms of group variation (differences between wild and domesticated breads, ages, and sexes), and correlations structure of the check teeth described by 30 measurements were studied in the sample of 60 specimens of the Przewalski horse (Eauus przewalskii). The characters were included in the analyses both in the original and in several secondarily transformed (their logarithms and residuals calculated from regression and dispersion analyses) forms. Several standard uni-, bi-, and multivariate techniques were employed. Two important features of individual variation are revealed, namely higher variation of the lower teeth widths and especially of the third molar traits. Correlation structure is pretty simple and apparent, with several correlation pleiads clearly identifiable. The basic portion of the toothrow (P3 — M2) is not divided into premolar and molar sections and could be considered as a morphogenetic whole. The M3 traits constitute separate pleiad, while those of P2 are just weakly correlated with both themselves and other traits. The dental lengths and widths are not mutually correlated, each group forming its own pleiad. At last, a separate pleiad is formed by paracone lengths, which could make correlation analysis one of the tools for analyzing serial homologies of the complex mammal tooth crown. All forms of group variation cover about 28 per cent of the total morphological disparity. Age variation is most and sex difference is least pronounced. Domestication and age effects are quite similar in respect to the characters involved, while sex difference is more specific in this respect. The characters forming particular correlation pleiads reveal specific reactions to various forms of group variation. Neither logarithm transformation nor regression residuals eliminate the size factor in the horse teeth. It is shown that the variance component analysis supplemented with Monte-Carlo method could be used to estimate portions of particular forms of group variation within the overall disparity defined by a set of morphometric traits. Correlation structure could be effectively analyzed by using clusterization supplemented with subsampling procedure.
<jats:p>Using statistical methods, a comparative morphometric analysis of the bones of the ... more <jats:p>Using statistical methods, a comparative morphometric analysis of the bones of the distal limbs of horses from archaeological sites of the 7 th—4 th centuries BC was carried out for the first time for the territory of the North Caucasus, in particular the Ciscaucasia, Central and Northwestern Caucasus. In total, the analysis includes 14 sites, materials from 12 of them are published for the first time. The exterior of the horses is described, and some of its changes over 400 years are revealed. It is shown that along with the general uniformity of animals, there are certain differences between the sites left by different archaeological cultures. However, these ethnocultural features can also be largely due to differences in the ecological and geographical conditions for horse breeding. The limited amount of material does not allow us to confidently assert the presence of directed selection of horses and breed formation in this historical period, to determine the origin of horses from different archaeological cultures. However, the general uniformity of animals may indicate, if not the origin, then at least the significant influence of the Scythian horses on the local population. The paper also discusses some methodological aspects of the study of archaeozoological material.</jats:p>
The Species Problem - Ongoing Issues
Ontogenetic systematics is based on the general idea that the arrangement of taxa within a classi... more Ontogenetic systematics is based on the general idea that the arrangement of taxa within a classification should reflect diver-sity of developmental (ontogenetic) patterns peculiar to organisms allocated to these taxa. As understood here, it includes such taxonomic approaches as Nelson—Platnick's pattern cladistics and Ho's version of rational taxonomy. One of its most recent conceptions is the one elaborated by A. Martynov (2009–2011), central for which is a notion of ontogenetic cycle, and the entire conception is defined by its author as a theory of "formation and decay of the ontogenetic cycles". The latter con-ception is shown to be inconsistent as an artificial combination of mutually incompatible principles borrowed from different taxonomic schools (phenetics, typology, cladistics). RESUMEN La sistemática ontogenética se basa en la idea general de que la disposición de los taxones dentro de una clasificación debe reflejar la diversidad de patrones de desarro...
Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2012
A review of the contemporary theoretical concepts of homology addresses the following issues: the... more A review of the contemporary theoretical concepts of homology addresses the following issues: the ontological status of homology (nominalistic, realistic, and conceptualistic interpretations); the absolute or rel ative nature of homology statements; distinguishing between the general categories of taxic and transformational homologies and the methods for assuming homology in each of these categories; homology between patterns and processes; and the correspondence between homology and similarity. The phylogenetic and ontogenetic definitions of homology are considered in more detail, as well as the correspondence between them as different aspects of the total category of transformational homology; the ambiguity of the correspondence between the homologies at the genotypic and phenotypic levels is underlined. In the consideration of the epistemological aspects of homology, attention is focused on the fact that the homology statement is a hypothesis; the fact that these statements depend on the theoretical conceptual context makes the correspondence between homology and analogy relative. The issues of operationalization of the concept of homology and its criteria are briefly described. The importance of elaboration of the hierarchical concept of homology is noted.
Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2011
Problems related to the development of concepts of rational taxonomy and rational classifications... more Problems related to the development of concepts of rational taxonomy and rational classifications (taxonomic systems) in biology are discussed. A rational taxonomy is based on the assumption that the key characteristic of rationality is the deductive inference of certain partial judgments about the reality under study from other judgments taken as more general and a priori true. Two forms of rationality are distinguished: ontological and epistemological. The former implies the inference of classification properties from general (essential) properties of the reality being investigated. The latter implies the inference of partial rules about classification from more general (formal) rules.
Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2013
Research in Biodiversity - Models and Applications, 2011
Geographic variation of 11 measurable cranial traits was studied on a set of 37 local samples of ... more Geographic variation of 11 measurable cranial traits was studied on a set of 37 local samples of the Libyan jird, Meriones libycus, over its entire distribution area. MANOVA, cluster, canonical discriminant, and regression analyses were applied to consider both scalar and vector parameters of variation. It is shown that the Libyan jird is divided craniometrically into tree principal clusters, African, SWN Caspian, and main Asian ones, which differ basically by auditory bulla size (the least in SWN Caspian cluster) and incisive foramen length (the least in some subsamples of main Asian cluster). Auditory bulla size is shown to be negatively, though not very strongly, correlated with the aridity index. However, the SWN Caspian cluster is characterized by much smaller bulla than it is predicted by the regression with climatic parameter. This might be explained by some historical causes according to which a small size of auditory bulla in the jirds of that cluster reflects retention of the ancestral condition. It is suggested that subspecies M. l. caucasius from Azerbaijan is most conspicuously differentiated by cranial morphology, but its taxonomic relation to M. l. eversmanni from N Caspian region needs further clarification. The method of vector analysis of geographic trends within large portions of the areas of widely distributed species, such as M. libycus, seems to be useful in providing additional important information concerning biological specificity of respective territorial groupings.
Russian journal of theriology, 2021
Correlation structure of the cheek teeth enamel crown patterns in the genus Equus was studied by ... more Correlation structure of the cheek teeth enamel crown patterns in the genus Equus was studied by means of geometric morphometrics using outline points as descriptors to reveal the levels of morphological integration of the toothrow elements. Crown patterns in 34 upper and 31 lower toothrows (260 teeth in total) from 30 horse species were analyzed, the respective sets of 70 to 150 outline points were processed using the elliptic Fourier, principal component, and cluster analyses. The most correlated were shown to be the serial homologous crown elements within premolar and molar toothrow portions and less across the total toothrow. Correlation between occluding upper and lower teeth was shown to be low. Such correlation structure allowed identifying several levels of integration of the cheek teeth crown patterns in the genus Equus. A possibility of considering the serial homologous crown elements as the modules of the evolutionary developmental structure of the equine toothrows was di...
Novitates Theriologicae, 2021
The species problem is understood as a result of the contradiction between aspiration and inabili... more The species problem is understood as a result of the contradiction between aspiration and inability to reduce diversity of species conceptions (SCs) to a single one. Any SC represents the natural spe-cies phenomenon in a certain cognitive situation and serves as a heuristic model of this phenomenon in the latter. SCs of various levels of generality emerge as a result of sequential multiple reduction cascade; the more reduction steps lead to a particular SC, the less it is adequate to the natural species phenomenon. The entire array of SCs can be represented by a conceptual pyramid, within which various SCs occur as particular interpretations of more general (inclusive) concepts and have no sense without contexts imposed by them. It is suggested that, in order to define natural “species in general,” a certain concept of biota should be fixed at the top of conceptual pyramid allowing to dis-tinguish between species and non-species (such as life form, syntaxa, guilds) phenomena. The on...
В статье исследуются теоретические вопросы общей проблемы соответствия между биоколлекциями и био... more В статье исследуются теоретические вопросы общей проблемы соответствия между биоколлекциями и биоразнообразием (БР). Кратко рассмотрены научные предпосылки возникновения интереса к БР, охарактеризованы фундаментальные проявления БР (фрагменты, уровни ирерархии, аспекты). Очерчено расширенное понимание биоинформатики как дисциплины, изучающей информационное обеспечение исследований БР; биоколлекции являются частью этого обеспечения в качестве специфической ресурсной базы. Долговременно сохраняющиеся музейный биоколлекции гарантируют опытную выводимость и опытную проверяемость (верификацию) знания о БР, делая это знание вполне научным. Показано, что биоколлекция, в качестве информационного ресурса, в работах по БР выполняет роль исследовательской выборки. Рассмотрены основные характеристики биоколлекции: наиболее общей является её научная значимость, более частные делятся на три основные группы: «собственные» (содержательность, информативность, достоверность, адекватность, документиро...
This essay deals with the biological and philosophical rodts of the modern approach to phylogenet... more This essay deals with the biological and philosophical rodts of the modern approach to phylogenetic reconstructions which might be called the "New Phylogenetics". Its emergence was first stimulated by new premises in ontology and epistemology that made "population thinking" inadequate and led to the rebirth of "phylogenetic thinking". The new phylogenetics is the result of the joining of three independently developed scientific branches cladistics, numerical phyletics and molecular biology. Some characteristic features of each component of the new phylogenetics discriminating it from both classical and pure phenetic approaches, are considered. The new phylogenetics is historically bound and will be replaced in time by some other phylogenetic approaches that would bear less of reductionist epistemology.
Russian Journal of Theriology
Variation and covariation of the molar crown elements of prismatic dentition in the genus Ondatra... more Variation and covariation of the molar crown elements of prismatic dentition in the genus Ondatra (Mammalia: Rodentia: Arvicolinae) was studied numerically by means of geometric morphometric and cluster analyses. 31 elements were identified in total, their shapes were described by semilandmarks, their covariation patterns were analyzed by cluster analysis of vectorized Procrustes distance matrices with bootstrap estimations of cluster supports. Within-tooth comparisons recognize the modules that combine crown elements corresponding to the opposing pairs of cusps characteristic of generalized cricetine dentition. Results of comparison of crown elements within each toothrow indicate that integration effect, uniting homologous elements in adjacent teeth into dispersed modules, may be stronger than that uniting opposing elements in the same teeth. Comparison of crown elements of upper and lower toothrows reveals covariation of anterior part of lower M1 and posterior part of upper M3, which underwent coherent complication in the arvicoline evolution. It is concluded that the approach, based on combination of elementaristic GM-description of dental crowns and cluster analysis of covariations of their elements, may become an important tool for exploration of integration patterns of specialized dentition in herbivorous mammals.
Species and speciation. Analysis of new views and trends
The modern species problem in biology is defined as a contradiction between the need for general ... more The modern species problem in biology is defined as a contradiction between the need for general notion of the species having a unified contents in various branches of biology, and impossibility to reach it. Any species concept becomes biologically valid under conditions of a biologically sound basic theory, which defines what is the species in a general case and why and how does it come to existence. There a hierarchy of species concepts and definition exist, with a most general «ideal» concept (a kind of «species theory») belonging to its highest level of generality. No such concept is known to exist at the moment; one of its version could be elaborated within a theoretical framework of synergetic model of developing and structuring biota, with the species being an element of the biota’s structure. A number of particular contentwise species concepts belong to the middle level of that hierarchy, each corresponding to a particular aspect of consideration of the biota’s structure. Di...
Close Document Image Close Document Printer Image Print This Document! Conservation Information N... more Close Document Image Close Document Printer Image Print This Document! Conservation Information Network (BCIN). Author: Rossolimo, Olga L.;Pavlinov, Igor Ja. Editor: Rose, Carolyn L.;Williams, Stephen L.;Gisbert, Julio ...
На примере 8 видов бурозубок (род Sorex) рассмотрены возможности использования количественных мет... more На примере 8 видов бурозубок (род Sorex) рассмотрены возможности использования количественных методов геометрической морфометрии при изучении межвидовой и внутривидовой изменчивости их верхних промежуточных зубов. Показано, что у большинства видов специфика строения переднего отдела зубного ряда определяется соотношением вершин промежуточных зубов, у некоторых - общими пропорциями переднего отдела зубного ряда. Общий характер внутривидовых различий у 4 изученных видов достаточно сходен. У S. araneus выявлена значительная изменчивость конфигурации вершин промежуточных зубов, отчасти “перекрывающая” межвидовые различия.
Individual variation, several forms of group variation (differences between wild and domesticated... more Individual variation, several forms of group variation (differences between wild and domesticated breads, ages, and sexes), and correlations structure of the check teeth described by 30 measurements were studied in the sample of 60 specimens of the Przewalski horse (Eauus przewalskii). The characters were included in the analyses both in the original and in several secondarily transformed (their logarithms and residuals calculated from regression and dispersion analyses) forms. Several standard uni-, bi-, and multivariate techniques were employed. Two important features of individual variation are revealed, namely higher variation of the lower teeth widths and especially of the third molar traits. Correlation structure is pretty simple and apparent, with several correlation pleiads clearly identifiable. The basic portion of the toothrow (P3 — M2) is not divided into premolar and molar sections and could be considered as a morphogenetic whole. The M3 traits constitute separate pleiad, while those of P2 are just weakly correlated with both themselves and other traits. The dental lengths and widths are not mutually correlated, each group forming its own pleiad. At last, a separate pleiad is formed by paracone lengths, which could make correlation analysis one of the tools for analyzing serial homologies of the complex mammal tooth crown. All forms of group variation cover about 28 per cent of the total morphological disparity. Age variation is most and sex difference is least pronounced. Domestication and age effects are quite similar in respect to the characters involved, while sex difference is more specific in this respect. The characters forming particular correlation pleiads reveal specific reactions to various forms of group variation. Neither logarithm transformation nor regression residuals eliminate the size factor in the horse teeth. It is shown that the variance component analysis supplemented with Monte-Carlo method could be used to estimate portions of particular forms of group variation within the overall disparity defined by a set of morphometric traits. Correlation structure could be effectively analyzed by using clusterization supplemented with subsampling procedure.
<jats:p>Using statistical methods, a comparative morphometric analysis of the bones of the ... more <jats:p>Using statistical methods, a comparative morphometric analysis of the bones of the distal limbs of horses from archaeological sites of the 7 th—4 th centuries BC was carried out for the first time for the territory of the North Caucasus, in particular the Ciscaucasia, Central and Northwestern Caucasus. In total, the analysis includes 14 sites, materials from 12 of them are published for the first time. The exterior of the horses is described, and some of its changes over 400 years are revealed. It is shown that along with the general uniformity of animals, there are certain differences between the sites left by different archaeological cultures. However, these ethnocultural features can also be largely due to differences in the ecological and geographical conditions for horse breeding. The limited amount of material does not allow us to confidently assert the presence of directed selection of horses and breed formation in this historical period, to determine the origin of horses from different archaeological cultures. However, the general uniformity of animals may indicate, if not the origin, then at least the significant influence of the Scythian horses on the local population. The paper also discusses some methodological aspects of the study of archaeozoological material.</jats:p>
The Species Problem - Ongoing Issues
Ontogenetic systematics is based on the general idea that the arrangement of taxa within a classi... more Ontogenetic systematics is based on the general idea that the arrangement of taxa within a classification should reflect diver-sity of developmental (ontogenetic) patterns peculiar to organisms allocated to these taxa. As understood here, it includes such taxonomic approaches as Nelson—Platnick's pattern cladistics and Ho's version of rational taxonomy. One of its most recent conceptions is the one elaborated by A. Martynov (2009–2011), central for which is a notion of ontogenetic cycle, and the entire conception is defined by its author as a theory of "formation and decay of the ontogenetic cycles". The latter con-ception is shown to be inconsistent as an artificial combination of mutually incompatible principles borrowed from different taxonomic schools (phenetics, typology, cladistics). RESUMEN La sistemática ontogenética se basa en la idea general de que la disposición de los taxones dentro de una clasificación debe reflejar la diversidad de patrones de desarro...
Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2012
A review of the contemporary theoretical concepts of homology addresses the following issues: the... more A review of the contemporary theoretical concepts of homology addresses the following issues: the ontological status of homology (nominalistic, realistic, and conceptualistic interpretations); the absolute or rel ative nature of homology statements; distinguishing between the general categories of taxic and transformational homologies and the methods for assuming homology in each of these categories; homology between patterns and processes; and the correspondence between homology and similarity. The phylogenetic and ontogenetic definitions of homology are considered in more detail, as well as the correspondence between them as different aspects of the total category of transformational homology; the ambiguity of the correspondence between the homologies at the genotypic and phenotypic levels is underlined. In the consideration of the epistemological aspects of homology, attention is focused on the fact that the homology statement is a hypothesis; the fact that these statements depend on the theoretical conceptual context makes the correspondence between homology and analogy relative. The issues of operationalization of the concept of homology and its criteria are briefly described. The importance of elaboration of the hierarchical concept of homology is noted.
Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2011
Problems related to the development of concepts of rational taxonomy and rational classifications... more Problems related to the development of concepts of rational taxonomy and rational classifications (taxonomic systems) in biology are discussed. A rational taxonomy is based on the assumption that the key characteristic of rationality is the deductive inference of certain partial judgments about the reality under study from other judgments taken as more general and a priori true. Two forms of rationality are distinguished: ontological and epistemological. The former implies the inference of classification properties from general (essential) properties of the reality being investigated. The latter implies the inference of partial rules about classification from more general (formal) rules.
Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2013
Research in Biodiversity - Models and Applications, 2011
Geographic variation of 11 measurable cranial traits was studied on a set of 37 local samples of ... more Geographic variation of 11 measurable cranial traits was studied on a set of 37 local samples of the Libyan jird, Meriones libycus, over its entire distribution area. MANOVA, cluster, canonical discriminant, and regression analyses were applied to consider both scalar and vector parameters of variation. It is shown that the Libyan jird is divided craniometrically into tree principal clusters, African, SWN Caspian, and main Asian ones, which differ basically by auditory bulla size (the least in SWN Caspian cluster) and incisive foramen length (the least in some subsamples of main Asian cluster). Auditory bulla size is shown to be negatively, though not very strongly, correlated with the aridity index. However, the SWN Caspian cluster is characterized by much smaller bulla than it is predicted by the regression with climatic parameter. This might be explained by some historical causes according to which a small size of auditory bulla in the jirds of that cluster reflects retention of the ancestral condition. It is suggested that subspecies M. l. caucasius from Azerbaijan is most conspicuously differentiated by cranial morphology, but its taxonomic relation to M. l. eversmanni from N Caspian region needs further clarification. The method of vector analysis of geographic trends within large portions of the areas of widely distributed species, such as M. libycus, seems to be useful in providing additional important information concerning biological specificity of respective territorial groupings.
Russian journal of theriology, 2021
Correlation structure of the cheek teeth enamel crown patterns in the genus Equus was studied by ... more Correlation structure of the cheek teeth enamel crown patterns in the genus Equus was studied by means of geometric morphometrics using outline points as descriptors to reveal the levels of morphological integration of the toothrow elements. Crown patterns in 34 upper and 31 lower toothrows (260 teeth in total) from 30 horse species were analyzed, the respective sets of 70 to 150 outline points were processed using the elliptic Fourier, principal component, and cluster analyses. The most correlated were shown to be the serial homologous crown elements within premolar and molar toothrow portions and less across the total toothrow. Correlation between occluding upper and lower teeth was shown to be low. Such correlation structure allowed identifying several levels of integration of the cheek teeth crown patterns in the genus Equus. A possibility of considering the serial homologous crown elements as the modules of the evolutionary developmental structure of the equine toothrows was di...
Novitates Theriologicae, 2021
The species problem is understood as a result of the contradiction between aspiration and inabili... more The species problem is understood as a result of the contradiction between aspiration and inability to reduce diversity of species conceptions (SCs) to a single one. Any SC represents the natural spe-cies phenomenon in a certain cognitive situation and serves as a heuristic model of this phenomenon in the latter. SCs of various levels of generality emerge as a result of sequential multiple reduction cascade; the more reduction steps lead to a particular SC, the less it is adequate to the natural species phenomenon. The entire array of SCs can be represented by a conceptual pyramid, within which various SCs occur as particular interpretations of more general (inclusive) concepts and have no sense without contexts imposed by them. It is suggested that, in order to define natural “species in general,” a certain concept of biota should be fixed at the top of conceptual pyramid allowing to dis-tinguish between species and non-species (such as life form, syntaxa, guilds) phenomena. The on...
В статье исследуются теоретические вопросы общей проблемы соответствия между биоколлекциями и био... more В статье исследуются теоретические вопросы общей проблемы соответствия между биоколлекциями и биоразнообразием (БР). Кратко рассмотрены научные предпосылки возникновения интереса к БР, охарактеризованы фундаментальные проявления БР (фрагменты, уровни ирерархии, аспекты). Очерчено расширенное понимание биоинформатики как дисциплины, изучающей информационное обеспечение исследований БР; биоколлекции являются частью этого обеспечения в качестве специфической ресурсной базы. Долговременно сохраняющиеся музейный биоколлекции гарантируют опытную выводимость и опытную проверяемость (верификацию) знания о БР, делая это знание вполне научным. Показано, что биоколлекция, в качестве информационного ресурса, в работах по БР выполняет роль исследовательской выборки. Рассмотрены основные характеристики биоколлекции: наиболее общей является её научная значимость, более частные делятся на три основные группы: «собственные» (содержательность, информативность, достоверность, адекватность, документиро...
This essay deals with the biological and philosophical rodts of the modern approach to phylogenet... more This essay deals with the biological and philosophical rodts of the modern approach to phylogenetic reconstructions which might be called the "New Phylogenetics". Its emergence was first stimulated by new premises in ontology and epistemology that made "population thinking" inadequate and led to the rebirth of "phylogenetic thinking". The new phylogenetics is the result of the joining of three independently developed scientific branches cladistics, numerical phyletics and molecular biology. Some characteristic features of each component of the new phylogenetics discriminating it from both classical and pure phenetic approaches, are considered. The new phylogenetics is historically bound and will be replaced in time by some other phylogenetic approaches that would bear less of reductionist epistemology.
An Outline of a Conceptual Framework for Contemporary Biological Systematics, 2023
Biological systematics, exploring the structure of taxonomic diversity (TD), needs a proper conce... more Biological systematics, exploring the structure of taxonomic diversity (TD), needs a proper conceptualization that would (a) make it complying with certain universal criteria of scientificity and (b) take into account specificity of its studied object. This article outlines a possible conceptual framework for this natural science discipline based on the ideas of contemporary conceptualism. One of the most fundamental of them includes a concept of cognitive situation shaped by three interrelated basic components-ontic, epistemic, and subjective. Its core position is taken by a taxonomic theory (TT) being a conceptual construct resulted from a "summative" effect of all three components and designed for studying TD. The general TT is shown to be composed by a hierarchically arranged array of partial TTs of various levels of generality, and this construct serves as a conceptual justification of taxonomic pluralism. Several kinds of partial TTs are suggested to recognise, viz., ontology-and epistemology-oriented, aspect-and object-based, etc. The aspect-based TTs are of special importance as the conceptual foundations of particular research programs in systematics. The object-based partial TTs are shown to be implemented by concepts of species and homology. A large-scale relation between taxonomic theory and nomenclature is briefly considered.