Folder
ROOT
_ScienceBase Catalog
__LC MAP - Landscape Conservation Management and Analysis Portal
___USFWS Science Applications
____Science Applications Headquarters
_____Projects
______Assessing the taxonomic status of the red wolf and the Mexican Gray wolf
Scientists strive to develop clear rules for naming and grouping living organisms. But taxonomy, the scientific study of biological classification and evolution, is often highly debated. Members of a species, the fundamental unit of taxonomy and evolution, share a common evolutionary history and a common evolutionary path to the future. Yet, it can be difficult to determine whether the evolutionary history or future of a population is sufficiently distinct to designate it as a unique species.A species is not a fixed entity – the relationship among the members of the same species is only a snapshot of a moment in time. Different populations of the same species can be in different stages in the process of species...