---
_id: '9392'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'Humans conceptualize the diversity of life by classifying individuals into
    types we call ‘species’1. The species we recognize influence political and financial
    decisions and guide our understanding of how units of diversity evolve and interact.
    Although the idea of species may seem intuitive, a debate about the best way to
    define them has raged even before Darwin2. So much energy has been devoted to
    the so-called ‘species problem’ that no amount of discourse will ever likely solve
    it2,3. Dozens of species concepts are currently recognized3, but we lack a concrete
    understanding of how much researchers actually disagree and the factors that cause
    them to think differently1,2. To address this, we used a survey to quantify the
    species problem for the first time. The results indicate that the disagreement
    is extensive: two randomly chosen respondents will most likely disagree on the
    nature of species. The probability of disagreement is not predicted by researcher
    experience or broad study system, but tended to be lower among researchers with
    similar focus, training and who study the same organism. Should we see this diversity
    of perspectives as a problem? We argue that we should not.'
acknowledgement: We thank Christopher Cooney, Martin Garlovsky, Anja M. Westram, Carina
  Baskett, Stefanie Belohlavy, Michal Hledik, Arka Pal, Nicholas H. Barton, Roger
  K. Butlin and members of the University of Sheffield Speciation Journal Club for
  feedback on draft survey questions and/or comments on a draft manuscript. Three
  anonymous reviewers gave thoughtful feedback that improved the manuscript. We thank
  Ahmad Nadeem, who was paid to build the Shiny app. We are especially grateful to
  everyone who took part in the survey. Ethical approval for the survey was obtained
  through the University of Sheffield Ethics Review Procedure (Application 029768).
  S.S. was supported by a NERC grant awarded to Roger K. Butlin.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Sean
  full_name: Stankowski, Sean
  id: 43161670-5719-11EA-8025-FABC3DDC885E
  last_name: Stankowski
- first_name: Mark
  full_name: Ravinet, Mark
  last_name: Ravinet
citation:
  ama: Stankowski S, Ravinet M. Quantifying the use of species concepts. <i>Current
    Biology</i>. 2021;31(9):R428-R429. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060">10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060</a>
  apa: Stankowski, S., &#38; Ravinet, M. (2021). Quantifying the use of species concepts.
    <i>Current Biology</i>. Cell Press. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060</a>
  chicago: Stankowski, Sean, and Mark Ravinet. “Quantifying the Use of Species Concepts.”
    <i>Current Biology</i>. Cell Press, 2021. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060</a>.
  ieee: S. Stankowski and M. Ravinet, “Quantifying the use of species concepts,” <i>Current
    Biology</i>, vol. 31, no. 9. Cell Press, pp. R428–R429, 2021.
  ista: Stankowski S, Ravinet M. 2021. Quantifying the use of species concepts. Current
    Biology. 31(9), R428–R429.
  mla: Stankowski, Sean, and Mark Ravinet. “Quantifying the Use of Species Concepts.”
    <i>Current Biology</i>, vol. 31, no. 9, Cell Press, 2021, pp. R428–29, doi:<a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060">10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060</a>.
  short: S. Stankowski, M. Ravinet, Current Biology 31 (2021) R428–R429.
date_created: 2021-05-16T22:01:46Z
date_published: 2021-05-10T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-08-08T13:34:38Z
day: '10'
department:
- _id: NiBa
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000654741200004'
  pmid:
  - '33974865'
intvolume: '        31'
isi: 1
issue: '9'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060
month: '05'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: R428-R429
pmid: 1
publication: Current Biology
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - '18790445'
  issn:
  - '09609822'
publication_status: published
publisher: Cell Press
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Quantifying the use of species concepts
type: journal_article
user_id: 4359f0d1-fa6c-11eb-b949-802e58b17ae8
volume: 31
year: '2021'
...