Overpopulation is destroying life on this planet.
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Species are going extinct much faster than we can discover and name them. Human overpopulation is killing life on this planet.
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Americans have to ruin everything with their profit over everything mentality.
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While we are pushing into what's being called the 6th mass extinction, perhaps taking money to discover species is the prudent thing to do, if only to get specimens identified so they can be named even if they're gone before the paper is submitted.
As for the fact that funding attractive species brings more money than the unattractive ones, perhaps the organizations holding these Name That Beast auctions simply put all raised funds into a pool.
I am not going to reveal my name or the species but just about 50 years ago I learned of a species that if you use an initial for the first word is named exactly like me even down to the correct spelling.
So I will not be bidding thank you!
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"The privilege of naming a new species typically lies with the person who discovered it. "
That is not strictly true. The privilege of naming a new species lies with the person who DESCRIBES it. That is, who documents its features, distinguishes it from other, related, species. That person may also have discovered it, but more often than not the specimen most likely was collected by someone else and has been sitting in a museum collection waiting its turn to be identified, and if new, described and named.
I have taken money from an organization to name a new species after one of its trustees. The money went to my institution to pay a graduate student for one who then helped me get a large number of other species described. There can be many good uses for such money.
Further, taxonomists have often had the backing of benefactors, but not so much in the "modern" era, which is too bad, and which is why so many taxonomists operate on veritable shoestrings while their molecular biologist cousins get all the dough and attention. Just sayin'.
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There is always a fine line between raising awareness and the risk of environmental damage it brings. Backpacking the Sierras or the Rocky's or the Boundarywaters is an experience that brings one closer to Earth and sky, but many people do not follow the mantra "pack it in, pack it out". Duck hunters have helped revitalize wetlands across the nation and help people understand their value, while also increasing the hunting (legally) of ducks and killing (illegally) of protected species like swans. Visiting the rain forest shows firsthand the beauty and the risk for devastation, but to get there requires a large carbon cost; visit too many times, and are you helping or hurting?
Benefit. Cost.
Naming a species is no different. Raising much needed funds and increasing public and personal awareness, at the potential cost of abuse and increased exploration.
The answer, however, isn't to stop the practice entirely. The answer is continued dialogue. We need backpackers, Ducks Unlimited, and ecotourism; we need them because it is important to value our environment on a personal level. And we need to remind ourselves to pack it out; to read the waterfowl ID guides; to watch Planet Earth again when the urge to visit Costa Rica arises.
So to with this practice. Talk to the interested buyers. Continue the dialogue among the scientists. Remind them that conservation isn't just regulation and economics, its a culture.
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In honor of Dr Salaman (the field biologist and Chief Executive of Rainforest Trust who pioneered the practice of auctioning off naming rights) it might be appropriate for someone who is willing to donate money for ecological preservation to name any newly-discovered species of salamander the "Salaman" salamander
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Promising a sponsor to name a new species after it is not a new idea or fact. The big problem with the promise is that it generates internal pressure to see new species and increases the risk that a species that's already been named will be given another name. This violates the taxonomists' goal of "one name per species and one species per name" and requires additional work to clean up the mess.
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@Dan. Good point. And will the donor(s) want their money back if their species is synonymized out of existence?
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Have a frog named after you? Sounds a lot like the International Star Registry's annual Christmas push to the vain and glorious who need to have a star named after them in the great registry in the sky.
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