Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!bionet!hazel.cc.kcl.ac.uk!UDBM011
From: UDBM011@hazel.cc.kcl.ac.uk
Newsgroups: bionet.population-bio
Subject: Defining the Subject
Message-ID: <8905101216.AA22184@net.bio.net>
Date: 10 May 89 13:07:59 GMT
Sender: daemon@NET.BIO.NET
Lines: 16

Surely the definition of "Population Biology" is bound to be artificial, and
dependant on the point of view of whoever is trying to define it; for example,
as a microbiologist my main interest in Pop-Bio is in populatin dynamics rather
than evolution. I see the need for a definition in order to indicate those
topics relevant for discussion on this particular bulletin board, but such a
definition does not need to be watertight or perfect. Further, the tendency to
try to assign limits to subjects within, say, University departments is, in my
experience, often obstructive as it tends to discourage research at the fringes
of a "subject" and between disciplines.

I would suggest that subject descriptions should serve only to highlight areas
of interest, and would add that I have never come across a definition of a
biological subject area that everyone that I have met who has an interest in
that area regards as definitive.

Simon Gray, Microbial Physiology Group, Kings College London.