Barcoding Nature: Shifting Cultures of Taxonomy in an Age of Biodiversity Loss

Author:   Claire Waterton (University of Lancaster, UK) ,  Rebecca Ellis (University of Lancaster, UK) ,  Brian Wynne (University of Lancaster, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:  

9781138807853


Pages:   212
Publication Date:   23 June 2014
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Barcoding Nature: Shifting Cultures of Taxonomy in an Age of Biodiversity Loss


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Overview

DNA Barcoding has been promoted since 2003 as a new, fast, digital genomics-based means of identifying natural species based on the idea that a small standard fragment of any organism’s genome (a so-called ‘micro-genome’) can faithfully identify and help to classify every species on the planet. The fear that species are becoming extinct before they have ever been known fuels barcoders, and the speed, scope, economy and ‘user-friendliness’ claimed for DNA barcoding, as part of the larger ferment around the ‘genomics revolution’, has also encouraged promises that it could inspire humanity to reverse its biodiversity-destructive habits. This book is based on six years of ethnographic research on changing practices in the identification and classification of natural species. Informed both by Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the anthropology of science, the authors analyse DNA barcoding in the context of a sense of crisis – concerning global biodiversity loss, but also the felt inadequacy of taxonomic science to address such loss. The authors chart the specific changes that this innovation is propelling in the collecting, organizing, analyzing, and archiving of biological specimens and biodiversity data. As they do so they highlight the many questions, ambiguities and contradictions that accompany the quest to create a genomics-based environmental technoscience dedicated to biodiversity protection. They ask what it might mean to recognise ambiguity, contradiction, and excess more publicly as a constitutive part of this and other genomic technosciences. Barcoding Nature will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology of science, science and technology studies, politics of the environment, genomics and post-genomics, philosophy and history of biology, and the anthropology of science.

Full Product Details

Author:   Claire Waterton (University of Lancaster, UK) ,  Rebecca Ellis (University of Lancaster, UK) ,  Brian Wynne (University of Lancaster, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.317kg
ISBN:  

9781138807853


ISBN 10:   1138807850
Pages:   212
Publication Date:   23 June 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Claire Waterton is Senior Lecturer in Environment and Society and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study for Environmental Change (CSEC) within the Sociology Department of Lancaster University. Rebecca Ellis is Lecturer in the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University. Brian Wynne is Professor of Science Studies at CSEC Lancaster University, and from 2002--2012 was co-PI and Associate Director of the ESRC Centre, Cesagen.

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