Neontology

Neontology is a part of <a href="/facts/Biology/1M1ee3pB">biology</a> that, in contrast to <a href="/facts/Paleontology/60n5yldd">paleontology</a>, studies and deals with living (or, more generally, <a href="/facts/Holocene/sppPgwW5">recent</a>) <a href="/facts/Organisms/j8JkL09u">organisms</a>. It is the study of extant taxa (singular: extant <a href="/facts/Taxon/caQC1e87">taxon</a>): taxa (such as <a href="/facts/Species/oDg6b96r">species</a>, <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genera</a> and <a href="/facts/Family_(biology)/qTrn6E8E">families</a>) with members still alive, as opposed to (all) being <a href="/facts/Extinction/24p5NP2q">extinct</a>. For example:

<ul><li>The <a href="/facts/Indian_elephant/Vp1ljmhu">Indian elephant</a> (Elephas maximus) is an extant species, and the <a href="/facts/Woolly_mammoth/6TtmERSs">woolly mammoth</a> (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct species.</li>
<li>The <a href="/facts/Moose/JDlB909Q">moose</a> (Alces alces) is an extant species, and the <a href="/facts/Irish_elk/kQl30IY9">Irish elk</a> (Megaloceros giganteus) is an extinct species.</li>
<li>In the group of <a href="/facts/Mollusc/1elgknsQ">molluscs</a> known as the <a href="/facts/Cephalopod/80GlMxHG">cephalopods</a>, as of 1987<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neontology&action=edit">[update]</a> there were approximately 600 extant species and 7,500 extinct species.</li></ul>
A taxon can be classified as extinct if it is broadly agreed or certified that no members of the group are still alive. Conversely, an extinct taxon can be reclassified as extant if there are new discoveries of living species ("<a href="/facts/Lazarus_species/loReFtoA">Lazarus species</a>"), or if previously known extant species are reclassified as members of the taxon. 
Most biologists, <a href="/facts/Zoology/6Kj13mBt">zoologists</a>, and <a href="/facts/Botanist/PaIRoxnb">botanists</a> are in practice neontologists, and the term neontologist is used largely by paleontologists referring to non-<a href="/facts/Paleontology/60n5yldd">paleontologists</a>. <a href="/facts/Stephen_Jay_Gould/FtAcabjg">Stephen Jay Gould</a> said of neontology:

<blockquote>
All professions maintain their <a href="/facts/Parochialism/Kf3TPQW4">parochialisms</a>, and I trust that nonpaleontological readers will forgive our major manifestation. We are paleontologists, so we need a name to contrast ourselves with all you folks who study modern <a href="/facts/Organisms/j8JkL09u">organisms</a> in <a href="/facts/Human/rlcTENsr">human</a> or <a href="/facts/Ecology/YE8upuJU">ecological</a> <a href="/facts/Time/HceJKUGB">time</a>. You therefore become neontologists. We do recognize the unbalanced and parochial nature of this <a href="/facts/Dichotomy/mDufyfsP">dichotomous</a> division.

</blockquote>
Neontological evolutionary biology has a temporal perspective between 100 and 1000 years. Neontology's fundamental basis relies on models of natural selection as well as <a href="/facts/Speciation/pmRTQbTK">speciation</a>. Neontology's methods, when compared to evolutionary <a href="/facts/Paleontology/60n5yldd">paleontology</a>, have a greater emphasis on experiments. There are more frequent discontinuities present in paleontology than in neontology, because paleontology involves extinct taxa. Neontology has organisms actually present and available to sample and perform research on. Neontology's research method uses <a href="/facts/Cladistics/JasKVABk">cladistics</a> to examine <a href="/facts/Morphology_(biology)/Nl3B0myy">morphologies</a> and <a href="/facts/Genetics/bu8wne0A">genetics</a>. Neontology data has more emphasis on genetic data and the population structure than paleontology does.

Neontology open-in-new

Neontology