Epidemiology needs more interdisciplinary teams with expertise in molecular systematics, public health and food safety

Abstract

What are considered fundamental principles within the Willi Hennig Society and published in their journal are not always fully appreciated by many other biological fields that have not been schooled in these disciplines of systematics principles and the reasons for why these principles are important (Wenzel, Cladistics, 2020, in press). Natural history museums and their associated programs have been a traditional source of the dissemination and training on the uses of phylogenetic systematics. Systematists should do more to expand these interdisciplinary collaborations by reaching out and supporting their local and international collaborators in public health, food and water safety, and other microbiology applications so that critical life-saving and timely phylogenetic-based decisions can be made.