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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730502008-02112010><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Hi Nate,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730502008-02112010><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730502008-02112010><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>I agree completely, and yes -- I do think it is
relevant. What we haven't really discussed in detail on this thread is how
you scope an "Individual". I think the more examples we give for how it's
useful to exapnd the concept of an "Individual" beyond a single organism, and
into things like small groups, large groups, colonies, etc. -- perhaps all
the way up to populations or even taxa -- the better able we'll be to get our
collective heads around things. I had never previously considered your
example of a group in the living organism sense (evemn though my first job was
at a public aquarium!), so I think this is very useful to toss into the
mix.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730502008-02112010><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730502008-02112010><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Aloha,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730502008-02112010><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Rich</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> tdwg-content-bounces@lists.tdwg.org
[mailto:tdwg-content-bounces@lists.tdwg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Nate
Flesness<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 01, 2010 7:59 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
tdwg-content@lists.tdwg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [tdwg-content] newbie comments
on Individual<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal>This is a tough list to join – lots of specialized
vocabulary and concepts (its purpose of course)<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> – I’ve been ”lurking” awhile, and this is the first
time I think I understand and might have something small to add from the live
collections point of view.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Speaking from 30+ years at ISIS working with biodiversity
data from 800+ institutions (zoos, aquariums, etc) on live animal individuals
and groups,<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I’d expand Steve Baskauf’s comment to say people need BOTH
the ability to handle individual animals (a wolf) and ALSO the
situation<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Where your data does not distinguish individuals but you
track a group identity and some kind of count (a wolf pack… we do that, and/or
by life stage, and/or by sex). <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Some live fish can be practically tracked as individuals,
and sometimes obviously not because there are ~5000 in that tank. Some of our
groups are<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>too big to count individuals even as estimates (beehives,
ant colonies), so we change the units and count colonies.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I hope this was faintly relevant and look forward to
meeting more of you in person when opportunity allows,<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Nate Flesness<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Director of Science<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>International Species Information System
(ISIS)<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A
href="http://www.isis.org">www.isis.org</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>