Read on Twitter
Someone on twitter recently asked that I share a little bit more about my research. I realize I post a lot of fish photos, but I don’t really get into the ins and outs of my research! Now that I’m at 10k followers I figured now’s a good time to get more into it. A THREAD! 1/17
I’m a systematic ichthyologist, and very briefly, my research interest is mostly split between taxonomy and systematics. What is taxonomy? Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing, and classifying organisms! Specifically, I am a fish taxonomist. 2/17
In its purest form, taxonomy mostly deals with the detection, description, and classification of new species. We know this as alpha taxonomy. But what then is systematics? 3/17
Systematics is a broader, more conceptual discipline that seeks to understand the diversification of living things, both historical and contemporary, as well as the relationships among these individuals through time. 4/17
Systematics is a really broad science that often taps into several other disciplines, such as population genetics, phylogenetics, taxonomy, biogeography, molecular dating, and all sorts of other fun stuff. 5/17
But for today, I thought I'd talk about something simpler. What is the process like in describing a new species? How do you know something is new, and what's involved in publishing a species description? 6/17
I'll use one of my favourite species as an example! Cirrhilabrus wakanda. I still remember the day @CoralReefFish DMed me on facebook with a photo of this being like "what is this?". And I said this is wrasse, genus Cirrhilabrus, but none of the 60 species that I recognised. 7/17
Back to taxonomy! With any new species, ideally you'd want a handful of specimens to examine. The more the merrier. Why so many? Simply put, you want to capture as much variation as possible! These specimens will serve as the type series. 8/17
Of these specimens though, only one can serve as the holotype. The holotype is usually the most exemplary specimen in which the species' description is based on - usually it is the most representative of the species. 9/17
The type series is very important, and every specimen has to be properly detailed and stored safely in a museum with an assigned registration number. Think of it as a library book - it allows researchers from around the world to borrow and examine it should they need to. 10/17
What exactly are we measuring? And what do we mean by variation? We need to follow a careful set of methods detailing certain aspects of its morphology so it can be comparable to other related species in its genus. 11/17
These usually include a set or morphometric (measurements of shape and form) and meristic (countable characters) data. This is where variation can occur - in say the shape or size of a certain element. Which is why more specimens = better! 12/17
I like to include radiographs and molecular data for my species descriptions too. It adds greater amount of detail to your species description, and makes your justification more robust. 13/17
But simply detailing aspects of the new species is not enough. We need something called a differential diagnosis. How is this new species different to other closely related species in its genus? Who do we know which are the most closely related species to compare against? 14/17
By using the data we collected above! Usually (not always), species that are most closely related will have similar body proportions, coloration details, genetic sequences. We'd need to make appropriate comparisons with the appropriate species. 15/17
With all these lines of evidence, description details, and photographs, you assemble it into a manuscript (following similar studies for methods and structure), and submit! Hope for the best! 16/17
This is a super brief HIGHLY attenuated workflow, but hopefully it gives you a bit of insight into what I do for research. Here's a gorgeous view of Zanzibar, where C. wakanda is from. Enjoy! 17/17 Fin!
