"I favour lumping all the large white-headed gulls into one species. The applicable species name is the first-named, which is Larus marinus Linnaeus 1758.
i.e., Sea Gull."
Although obviously meant tongue in cheek this might actually be a viable first step. Then, of course, people would start to notice that different populations of Sea Gull look and behave differently and don't seem to interbreed that freely, subspecies would be named and then people would start to wonder whether these would be better regarded as full species and we would come full circle to the present state of uncertainty.
It's only our natural desire to organise and categorise that causes a problem, the gulls themselves don't care what we call them.
Dave
i.e., Sea Gull."
Although obviously meant tongue in cheek this might actually be a viable first step. Then, of course, people would start to notice that different populations of Sea Gull look and behave differently and don't seem to interbreed that freely, subspecies would be named and then people would start to wonder whether these would be better regarded as full species and we would come full circle to the present state of uncertainty.
It's only our natural desire to organise and categorise that causes a problem, the gulls themselves don't care what we call them.
Dave