Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations

Two Genetically Distinct Populations of Bobtail Squid, Euprymna scolopes, Exist on the Island of O'ahu

Population structure of the endemic Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, was examined using both morphological and genetic data. Although allozyme polymorphism was negligible, measurements of eggs, juveniles, and adults, as well as genetic data sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I, demonstrated highly significant population structuring between two populations found on the northeastern and southern coasts of the island of O'ahu. These data suggest that extremely low levels of gene flow occur among these populations. Population subdivision of marine shallow-water invertebrates in Hawai'i is not expected based on earlier surveys, but may reflect a more general pattern for organisms, both marine and terrestrial, that exhibit limited dispersal. The subdivision also provides insight into the pathway through which coevolution between E. scolopes and its internal symbiont, Vibrio fischeri, may proceed