Introduction

I should have posted something like this earlier because it will cover the basics in all past and future posts. So, what am I talking about? There are some Nature 101 subjects that might not be known by readers, but if you know the basics, a whole world can suddenly materialise in front of you. For example, the naming conventions I use in my posts, which includes common names, scientific names, families, etc.

Not all readers will have a background or interest in what I cover in my posts but might stumble upon it through a link or a random internet search. This means that those readers might think; “Huh, why is he writing this?” or “What does that mean?”. By providing a little bit of background information it might entice the reader to want to look deeper into certain aspects I cover or into things they come across in their daily lives. For example, they might be out on their daily walk and come across an interesting flower … maybe something they’ve picked up in the Nature 101 series will help them find out more about that flower.

As a side benefit, this will be a longish post and will therefore help me build up my writing style again. I’m a Technical Writer by profession and so my daily work has meant I’ve had to strip some of the creative/random flourishes from my writing to be able to meet my client’s demands. I used to write a lot in my free time but now, after a day of work I don’t always feel like sitting down and doing more writing, I might choose to go out and go for a walk, or do something with me kids etc. Anyway, without further rambling, let’s get into it …

1.0 Naming

I’ll start with a very broad statement … all plants and animals have a scientific name, but not all plants and animals have a common name. Broad because, well, there are of course plants and animals that have yet to be discovered by science and so have not yet been given a scientific name, but you get the general idea.

1.1 Common Names

When I first started out, I was talking with Spanish and Dutch friends about what we’d come across in the field. I was also reading English books to help build up my knowledge. This means that for a specific bird I might have to know the Spanish, Dutch and English common name so that I could talk and have a decent conversation with all my friends … I quickly realised that I would go nuts if I have to learn all those names for everything that I had an interest in … solution, learn the scientific names because those are the same no matter what language I’m talking in. For example … know what a Gyps fulvus is instead of a vale gier (Dutch), Eurasian griffon vulture (English) or buitre leonado (Spanish) (writing convention – the Spanish and Dutch names are in italics because I’m writing this article in English).

That is why I’ve moved away from common names … I still do use them but prefer scientific names because I have noticed that there has sometimes been confusion when using a common name in a conversation where I realised that we weren’t talking about the same species of butterfly. However, I realise my situation might not be a regular case and I might be a bit nerdy in this regard.

There is a case for common names because they stimulate the imagination and so can be a great entry point in building an interest in nature. For example, Spotted redshank sounds great compared to Tringa erythropus.

However, sometimes you are forced to learn the scientific name, because not all plants and animals have been given a common name in a certain language. The English language is pretty good at slapping a name onto everything though.

1.2 Scientific Names

Scientific names can be daunting because they are in Latin and often you might not even understand what it means. I’m not going to explain what the names mean but I will provide an insight into what they are based on.

1.2.1 Taxonomy

The first thing to understand is that the names are based on taxonomy systems first set out by Linnaeus in 1735. However, this system has been continually updated as we have built on our understanding of nature, our planet etc.  This is also one of the main reasons that scientific names can change over time (more on that below).

Here is an overview for a certain species on the taxonomy behind the name:

• Order – Family – Genus – Species
• Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) – Aeshnidae (hawkers/darners) – Brachytron – Brachytron pratense (Hairy hawker)

Now a family might have numerous genera (plural for genus) within it … in this case, in Europe the genera of Anax, Aeshna, and Boyeria also fall under the family of Aeshnidae. Some of these genera have more than one species within them … e.g., Anax imperator and Anax ephippiger (among others). The genus of Brachytron only has one species within it (in the whole world).

The stuff about orders is well set out, however, the changes occur in the three levels below that (so a species might shift into a different genus based on DNA analysis). To complicate things a bit more … there are also classifications that fall between the four general levels above, such as Subgenera, Infraorders (under orders … in this case Anisoptera, to distinguish dragonflies from damselflies (Zygoptera)), and Superfamilies (below infraorders but above families).
Okay … the main thing that needs to stick in the beginning is the order and species. The order because you want to at least have a basic understanding of what you are looking at and to be able to differentiate between a dragonfly and a butterfly (order – Lepidoptera). Species because that is probably what you are interested in finding out … only later will you realise that a species is not always possible to get to through photos made out and about and so the best you’ll be able to do is genus. But hey … first things first.

1.2.2 Scientific Naming

So, what do various styles of scientific names mean?

• Brachytron pratense (Müller, 1764) – This is the binomial name. So, we know that the species is Brachytron pratense and that we have to put that in italics. But the rest? Müller is the name of the person who first described the species, and they did that in 1764. You can Google the name, it is Otto Friedrich Müller, a Danish naturalist. His name and date are in brackets because when he described it, he named the dragonfly Libellula pratense. Over time it has become clear that the genus Libellula has different characteristics and Brachytron was described by another scientist (William Frederick Evans) in 1845. So, the brackets mean that there has been a change in the original name.
  Why do they add the person’s name? So that the reader is 100% certain they know the correct species being discussed in a paper.
• Anax sp. or Anax spec. – Sometimes when we’re out in the field taking photos, we can’t quite ID an insect/plant/etc. down to a species level, but we can identify the genus … then we add either sp. or spec. after then genus … it basically means “I know I’ve seen an Anax dragonfly, but I’ve not been able to identify the exact species.”
• B. pratense – Sometimes the genus is shortened to the first letter (and a period) … basically the writer is writing about that species and does not feel like writing the whole name out each time. Care must be taken when writing about multiple species that have a genus that starts with the same letter … e.g., A. imperator and A. isoceles, where the first is Anax imperator and the second is Aeshna isoceles. Does the reader know they both aren’t Anax?

Conclusion

Okay, this has been one long post even though I’ve tried to keep it basic and brief … but hopefully you’ve picked up one of two things to take with you when you read a future blog post of mine. I’ll try to see if there are other Nature 101 subjects I can cover in future posts (maybe some about specific orders). Also, I think I’ll post these on Fridays from now on because the topics fit well with the Book Club stuff. I’m still figuring this out a bit. Finally, I’ll make sure that there is a list for all Nature 101 and Book Club posts on a general page.

Thanks for making it down this far!