界定和命名生物多样性是野生动物保护和研究的重要一步。然而,物种划界必须在整个生物群中保持一致,以便可以有效和客观地利用可用于自然保护的有限资源。迄今为止,新发现的谱系通常要么没有描述,因此不受保护,要么被错误地提议为新物种,尽管有不同的证据表明已完成物种形成,反过来又导致了新出现的分类通货膨胀问题。受到最近概念和方法进展的启发,我们提出了一个标准化的物种定界工作流程,结合了基因组数据集的系统发育和杂化区分析(“基因组分类学”),其中不自由混合的系统地理谱系被列为物种,而那些保持完全遗传相容的被列为亚种。在这两种情况下,我们鼓励他们正式的分类命名,诊断,和描述,以促进社会对生物多样性的认识。当系统地理模式复杂时,在整个基因组中使用基因座克服了广泛使用的条形码基因的不可靠性,而对分歧和生殖隔离的评估统一了长期对立的谱系物种和生物物种的概念。我们建议,保护评估从单一级别(物种)向两级层次结构(物种和亚种)的转变将导致对生物多样性的更平衡的认识,其中种内和种间多样性都得到重视并得到更充分的保护。
Delimiting and naming biodiversity is a vital step toward wildlife conservation and research. However, species delimitation must be consistent across biota so that the limited resources available for nature protection can be spent effectively and objectively. To date, newly discovered lineages typically are either left undescribed and thus remain unprotected or are being erroneously proposed as new species despite mixed evidence for completed speciation, in turn contributing to the emerging problem of taxonomic inflation. Inspired by recent conceptual and methodological progress, we propose a standardized workflow for species delimitation that combines phylogenetic and hybrid zone analyses of genomic datasets (\"genomic taxonomy\"), in which phylogeographic lineages that do not freely admix are ranked as species, while those that have remained fully genetically compatible are ranked as subspecies. In both cases, we encourage their formal taxonomic naming, diagnosis, and description to promote social awareness toward biodiversity. The use of loci throughout the genome overcomes the unreliability of widely used barcoding genes when phylogeographic patterns are complex, while the evaluation of divergence and reproductive isolation unifies the long-opposed concepts of lineage species and biological species. We suggest that a shift in conservation assessments from a single level (species) toward a two-level hierarchy (species and subspecies) will lead to a more balanced perception of biodiversity in which both intraspecific and interspecific diversity are valued and more adequately protected.