Ernst Mayr

Ernst Walter Mayr (July 5, 1904, Kempten, Germany – February 3, 2005, Bedford, Massachusetts, United States) was one of the most notable evolutionary biologists of the century XX. He was also a renowned taxonomist, explorer of the tropics, ornithologist, historian of science, and naturalist. His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the modern synthesis of the theory of evolution and the development of the biological concept of species.

Biography

Mayr studied medicine at the University of Greifswald but switched his interests to systematic biology and received his doctorate at the Humboldt University of Berlin, as an ornithologist. During the 1930s he took part in a two-year expedition to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where he studied the evolution of native fauna, especially ornithology.

For 18 years and until 1953 he worked as a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he was responsible for the taxonomy of birds.

By the early 1930s I was already convinced of the correctness of Darwin's theory of evolution. In 1937 he was one of the scientists who supported the theory called Modern Evolutionary Synthesis outlined in the book & # 34; Genetics and the Origin of Species & # 34; of Theodosius Dobzhansky, and who was crucial in the general acceptance of the concept of evolution.

In 1950 Mayr proposed an alternative classification of fossils, including those of hominids. Consequently, his proposal gained wide acceptance.

In 1983 he received the Balzan Prize in zoology. In 1999 he received the Crafoord Prize in life sciences, an award he shared with Drs. Williams and Dr. Smith.

In 2005 Mayr died at the age of 100.

Work

Philosophy of Biology

Mayr argued that, unlike physics, biology is not based so much on laws as on concepts:

If one concludes that there are no natural laws in evolutionary biology, one must ask, in biological theories, what can one then take as a basis? The widely adopted opinion is that the theories of evolutionary biology are based on concepts rather than laws, and this branch of science certainly has abundant concepts about basic theories. Let me mention concepts such as natural selection, struggle for existence, competition, biopopulation, adaptation, reproductive success, selection of the female, and male domination. [...] As a result, a philosophy of physics based on natural laws turns out to be something very different from a concept-based philosophy of biology.

If one concludes that there are no natural laws in evolutionary biology, one must ask, on what can one then base biological theories? The view now widely adopted is that theories in evolutionary biology are based on concepts rather than laws, and this branch of science certainly has abundant concepts on which to base theories. Let me just mention such concepts as natural selection, struggle for existence, competition, biopopulation, adaptation, reproductive success, female choice, and male dominance. [...] As a result, a philosophy of physics based on natural laws turns out to be something very different from a philosophy of biology based on concepts.

Mayr 2001

Biological species concept

One of Mayr's major theoretical contributions was his definition of the concept of species. Together with Dobzhansky, Mayr proposed the biological species concept, according to which a species is a natural group (or population) of individuals that can interbreed with each other, but are reproductively isolated from other related groups. This is the most widely accepted concept: the biological definition of a species implies evolutionarily assuming that it is a reproductively isolated population, which is why it constitutes a separate evolutionary lineage and that it is reinforced by a series of barriers that may be of a geographical or biological nature. However, the biological concept of species has several limitations: first, it is inapplicable to fossil organisms; second, it cannot be applied to organisms that reproduce asexually; Finally, there are many cases of hybridization, especially in vascular plants, in which fertile offspring are produced and remain independent genetic and evolutionary units.

Mayr admitted that his definition of a species did not apply to asexual organisms, but the hybridization objection led him to redefine the concept of "isolation mechanisms" as "biological properties of individuals that prevent interbreeding [merging] of populations" (Mayr 1970, p. 56). Isolation mechanisms, therefore, do not always prevent occasional interbreeding, but they do prevent complete fusion between the two species.

Abbreviation (zoology)

The abbreviation Mayr is used to indicate Ernst Mayr as the authority on description and taxonomy in zoology.

Bibliography

• González del Solar, R. and J. Lopez de Casenave (2005). «Ernst Mayr (1904-2005): Synthesis from birds». The Hornero, 20(2): 193-196
• Coyne, Jerry. 2005. Ernst Mayr (1904-2005). Science 307:1212-1213.
• Diamond, Jared. 2005. Obituary: Ernst Mayr (1904−2005). Nature 433:700-701.
• Haffer, Jürgen 2007. Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy: The Life and Science of Ernst Mayr 1904–2005. Springer. https://lccn.loc.gov/2007928500
• Milner, Richard. 1990. The Encyclopedia of Evolution Archived on 2 November 2008 in Wayback Machine. Facts on File, New York. ISBN 0-8160-1472-8
• Schilthuizen, Menno. 2001. Frogs, Flies, and Dandelions: Speciation-The Evolution of New Species. Oxford ISBN 0-19-850393-8 https://lccn.loc.gov/2001270180
• Kutschera, Ulrich. 2006. Dogma, not faith, is the barrier to scientific enquiry Nature 443, 26
• Mayr, E. " William B. Provine (Eds). 1998. The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology. Harvard University Press. https://lccn.loc.gov/98157613
• Meyer, Axel On the Importance of Being Ernst Mayr PLoS Biology 3 (5), e152 DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030152