Baraminology: Encyclopedia II - Baraminology - Demarcation of baramin

Baraminology - Demarcation of baramin

The question of determining the boundaries between baramin is a subject of much discussion and debate among creation biologists. A number of criteria have been presented.

Baraminology - Early efforts at demarcation

Hybridization: The traditional criterion for membership in a common baramin is the ability to hybridize and create viable offspring. Frank Lewis Marsh coined the term baramin in his book Fundamental Biology (1941) and expanded on the concept in Evolution, Creation, and Science (c. 1944), in which he asserted that hybridization was a sufficient condition for being members of the same baramin. However, he asserted that it was not a necessary condition, as observed speciation events among drosophila had been shown to cut off hybridization. In 1993, German creation biologist Siegfried Scherer presented two sufficient criteria for membership in a baramin: the ability to hybridize, or the shared ability to hybridize with a third organism.

The hybridization criterion was challenged in 1993 by creation biologist Remine. Remine argued that hybridization criteria were insufficient, because while organisms that could hybridize could be categorized as being part of a common baramin, organisms that could not hybridize were not necessarily of different baramin. Thus the definition was vague and not particularly useful.

Remine proposed instead that a holobaramin be defined as "a complete set of organisms related by common descent." This definition, while unambiguous, cannot be applied, however, because the actual line of descent cannot be observed today. Further, it was criticized because it failed to account for the possibility that more than one of each kind was originally created; according to his definition, two identical bacteria created by God would have been of different baramin. Finally, it excluded the first generation of organisms from the definition, because the first organisms, as created, were not related to each other.

Baraminology - Contemporary criteria for demarcation

In 2003, the Baraminology Study Group developed and refined the baramin concept with four new concepts:

• Biological character space is a theoretical multidimensional space in which each character (e.g. height or color) of an organism comprises a dimension, and particular states of that character occupy unique positions along the dimension. A single organism is therefore precisely defined by a single point in the multidimensional space.
• Potentiality region is a region of that biological character space within which organismal form is possible. Therefore, any point in the biological character space that is not within a potentiality region describes an organism that cannot exist.
• Continuity describes the relationship between two organisms which are either in the same potentiality region, or linked to each other by a third, such that transmutation between the two is theoretically possible.
• Discontinuity describes the relationship between two organisms which are in disconnected potentiality regions, such that transmutation between the two is impossible.

In determining continuity and discontinuity, creation biologists emphasize the importance of applying a holistic dataset in determining whether there is significant similarity between two organisms. Hybridization is considered to be determinative evidence that two organisms exhibit holistic and substantial continuity.

Baraminology - Recent baraminology research

In 2003, the Baraminology Study Group applied "analysis of pattern" to multidimensional biological character space data on sunflowers and fossil equids. They found a strong linear relationship and continuity among the sunflowers, and termed this relationship "biological trajectory." In applying the method of fossil equids, they found a branching relationship in the data, which indicated a divergence in ancestry. The linear relationship corresponded to the known chronological order of the fossils.[2]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Demarcation of baramin", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki