Species are nottrue species

How can we be so sure that the species that we are referring to are true
species or just plain names? According to a seminar, The fuzzy species conundrum:
genomic insights on the nature of microbial species and speciation, which was
conducted by Dr. Cheryl P. Andam, there is a statement that the word species itself
has only a nominal significance, describing an arbitrary collection of entities. In short,
species are just names given to an organism. There is no justification that an organism
is truly on one species or to the other species.

The speaker identified two scientists, Dobzhansky (1935) and Mayr (1942),
which focused on the Biological Species Concept. It was said that, to maintain the
genetic distinctness of species, there must be an emphasis on reproductive isolation.
Same species must be isolated to form new organism. And based on Cohans Ecotype
model, periodic selection is the force that allows such clones ecotypes to maintain
relative homogeneity and evolve together in sync with the environmental changes. The
speaker antagonized the two concepts because according to her both, Biological
Species concept and ecotype model, treat prokaryotes as asexual clones.

The speaker also made use of Darwins On the Origins of Species, for a
supporting statement. According to her, Darwins statement on the chapter two,
Variation under Nature, may be true. The chapter stated that species are so closely like
other forms or are so closely linked. With this, the speaker started to enumerate genus
of known bacteria and how related their species are.

On her explanation, most bacteria like Escherichia spp., Neisseria spp.,

Streptococcus spp., and Helicobacter spp. have species which are difficult to identify on
what species do they belong, because of their great relatedness to two or more species.

She also pointed out that, Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGC) and recombination
are rare event and unimportant to the genetics community that is why reticulate
evolution through HGC is an issue of prokaryotic systematics. Making HGC and
recombination an important aspect.She said that to know the identity of species, it must
be observed on a population level and not on the genome itself only. Members of the
same species are same on their phenotype and genotype.

According Dr. Andam, it is important to care about this kind of scientific matter
because it may affect pathogen identification, diversity estimates, predictions of
ecosystem functions, and some changes in the community.

Another proof that species are just nominals are their genome sequences. It was
revealed that there is a high level of within species genetic variation. A species may
have differences in their allele composition and gene content. An example is
Escherichia coli.
Within Escherichia coli, there are non-pathogenic, uropathogenic and
enterohaemorrhagic species. Almost thirty-nine percent of the genome is the same. And
some microorganisms like Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus,
Salmonella enterica, Klabsiella pneumoniae, and Burkholderia pseudomallei, have
different accessory genomes in their species type. It was hypothesized that, it was
because of two possible hypotheses, the adaptive and neutral evolution.

All in all, there are certain questions which we need to ponder more about our
planet. Many changes have occurred for the past years. There are certain things,
concepts and ideas we should take time to discover and verify. A seminar like this is a
good way to inform others on the changes happening in the science community.