Ecology vs systematics: specialized knowledge in a generalist world

Ecology and systematics should be synergistic disciplines but, especially where a taxonomic impediment exists, a shadow has fallen between them. In this twilight, systematists seem increasingly obsessed with molecular phylogenies whose terminal taxa are names without associated ecologies and ecologists are ever more enveloped in abstruse models and ethereal organisms (ecosystem engineers, foundation species, keystone species, invasive species, super organisms, functional groups, guilds, operational taxonomic units, etc.). At least in acarological areas, this fragmentation of evolutionary research seems to be driven by a tendency towards over-specialization. Using the career of Evert Lindquist and those influenced by his career, I demonstrate how a willingness to explore multiple taxa and produce accessible works can be used to overcome these problems.