TY - JOUR
AU - Johnston, Richard F.
AB -  The convention of a temporal millennium reflects, among other matters, the historical decision of the West to use a decimal arithmetic. Arbitrary and artificial as observance of a millennial ending may be, it nevertheless provides an occasion for celebrations, as well as invitations for examining the past. I am pleased to respond to an invitation to discuss some of our better efforts in past time, although social and political incompetence in the second Christian millennium also invites comment. Selected fragments of the history of biology, especially of ecology and systematics, are my focus; ultimately I aim at a paternal assessment of this Annual Review. SYSTEMATICS AND ECOLOGY Achievements in systematics and ecology occurred late in the second Christian millennium. Earlier developments were indifferent, which is true for much early science. For most of the past thousand years in the West (even currently in some intellectual deserts) the supernatural, magic, and superstition were more important than science (6, 17). Significantly, theology was long considered to be a fundamental part of science, with all other sciences generally subordinate to it (17). Nevertheless, theologians as well as scientists had difficulties as a result of, or were punished for, their work in 
TI - P REFACE : A Millennial View of Ecology and Systematics, and ARES at Age 30
JF - Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics
DO - 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.31.1.1
DA - 2000-11-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/annual-reviews/p-reface-a-millennial-view-of-ecology-and-systematics-and-ares-at-age-0O02cs0gJo
SP - 1
EP - 7
VL - 31
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -