Tina et al
Just got back. You have a great list of issues. Just as a note I have used Podek's website as a great source.
Give me a day or two and I will write some thoughts on two topics:
1. What is a species? This one has been around for a long while. Mayr's answer was that they must be able to breed, but with hemerocallis they all seem to interbreed, thus the hybrids. Yet I have a half dozen different citrinas and the same for minors, not to mention others. Some bloom weeks before/after others. Are they the same of just variants?
2. Epigenetics. This has become my daily concern. There are many dimensions of epigenetics, such as the calico cat, which randomly silences one of the X chromosomes, but not really random. Otherwise there would be an even spread of hairs, not patches. Then the zebra, this is what got turing, there are patterns, and they may be quasi epigenetic. Then there are the patterning of daylilies, this follows Turing since they appear as "solutions" to certain flow equations. Thus they suggest perhaps some extracellular matrix control mechanism. There is still a lot of guess work here.
I also think in pictures, perhaps my dyslexia, great at math, bad speller!
Give me a day or two and I shall return
Regards to all
Terry
