The taxonomic impediment: a shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches

Engel, Michael S.; Ceríaco, Luis M. P.; Daniel, Gimo M.; Dellapé, Pablo Matías; Löbl, Ivan; Marinov, Milen; Reis, Roberto E.; Young, Mark T.; Dubois, Alain; Agarwal, Ishan; Lehmann, Pablo A.; Alvarado, Mabel; Álvarez, Nadir; Andreone, Franco; Araujo‐Vieira, Katyuscia; Ascher, John S.; Baêta, Délio; Baldo, Diego; Bandeira, Suzana; Barden, Phillip; Barrasso, Diego Andrés; Bendifallah, Leila; Bockmann, Flávio Alicino; Böhme, Wolfgang; Borkent, Art; Brandão, Carlos Roberto Ferreira; Busack, Stephen D.; Bybee, Seth; Channing, Alan; Chatzimanolis, Stylianos; Christenhusz, Maarten J. M.; Crisci, Jorge V.; D’Elı́a, Guillermo; Costa, L. Moreira Da; Davis, Steven R.; Lucena, Carlos Alberto Santos de; Deuve, Thierry; Elizalde, Sara Fernandes; Faivovich, Julián; Farooq, Harith; Ferguson, Adam W.; Gippoliti, Spartaco; Gonçalves, Francisco M. P.; González, Víctor H.; Greenbaum, Eli; Hinojosa-Díaz, Ismael A.; Ineich, Ivan; Jiang, Jianping; Kahono, Sih; Kury, Adriano B.; Lucinda, Paulo H. F.; Lynch, John D.; Malecot, Valéry; Marques, Mariana P.; Marris, John W. M.; McKellar, Ryan C.; Mendes, Luís F.; Nihei, Silvio Shigueo; Nishikawa, Kanto; Ohler, Annemarie; Orrico, Victor G. D.; Ota, Hidetoshi; Paiva, Jorge; Parrinha, Diogo; Pauwels, Olivier S. G.; Pereyra, Martín O.; Pestana, Lueji Barros; Pinheiro, Paulo D. P.; Prendini, Lorenzo; Prokop, Jakub; Rasmussen, Claus; Rödel, Mark Oliver; Rodrigues, Miguel Tréfaut; Rodrı́guez, Sara; Salatnaya, Hearty; Sampaio, Íris; Sánchez‐García, Alba; Shebl, Mohamed A.; Santos, Bruna S.; Solórzano-Kraemer, Mónica M.; Sousa, Ana Carolina Andrade de; Stoev, Pavel; Teta, Pablo; Trape, Jean François; Santos, Carmen; Vasudevan, Karthikeyan; Vink, Cor J.; Vogel, Gernot; Wagner, Philipp; Wappler, Torsten; Ware, Jessica L.; Wedmann, Sonja; Zacharie, Chifundera Kusamba

doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab072

Cited by 156 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Unfortunately, the possibility of having an available team of taxonomists as diverse as the one orchestrated for this study is low. Hence, considering that it is widely recognized that the shortage of taxonomists is critical for addressing the current biodiversity crisis [79], and molecular technology is still imprecise for cryptic organism in reefs [2,22], more people need to be trained in reef invertebrate taxonomy, but simultaneously, larger molecular databases necessary for effective metabarcoding should be built.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Use of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) for Describing the Species Diversity of Two Coral Reefs in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

et al. 2021

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Autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) have been proposed as a standardized, passive, nondestructive sampling tool. This study assessed the ability of ARMS to capture the cryptic species diversity of two coral reefs by recording species richness and taxonomic representativeness using conventional taxonomy. The capacity of ARMS, as artificial substrates, to favor the establishment of nonindigenous species over native species was also evaluated. The use of ARMS allowed the detection of 370 species morphotypes from nine phyla, yielding 13 new records of geographic distribution expansion, one exotic species for the Gulf of México and the Caribbean Sea, and six newly described species. It was also possible to make spatial comparisons of species richness between both reefs. ARMS captured cryptic diversity exceptionally well, with the exception of echinoderms. Furthermore, these artificial structures did not hinder the colonization ability of native species; in fact, the colonization patterns on the structures themselves represented the spatial differences in the structure of benthic assemblages. This study represents the first effort to make a conventional taxonomic description of the cryptic fauna of the Yucatan Peninsula using ARMS. It is recommended to assess coral reef species diversity, but more taxonomists specialized in marine invertebrates are needed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Use of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) for Describing the Species Diversity of Two Coral Reefs in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

et al. 2021

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“…I strongly recommend the reading of papers such as Pinheiro et al (2019), Dupérré (2020), Zamani et al (2020), Ahrens et al (2021), Engel et al (2021, Meier et al (2021), Srivathsan et al (2021) and references cited there (other papers provide slightly different alternatives or approaches, and are also recommended reading, e.g., Brower (2010), Blaxter (2016), Goulding & Dayrat (2016), Renner (2016), Brown & Wong (2020), Vences (2020); this list is not exhaustive). And to present a more complete and fairer picture, the reader should also consider a second paper by Sharkey et al (2021b) which tried to provide counterarguments to some of the received criticism (although that paper has also been met with additional counterarguments on its own, e.g., Ahrens et al (2021), Engel et al (2021 and Meier et al (2021)).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the months following that paper, the scientific community has engaged in lively discussions about "how useful" such descriptions are, whether they in fact impede the cataloguing of biodiversity, "how valid" (from the ICZN perspective) those species are, and general issues about the future of taxonomy, shortcomings of BINs and even BOLD (e.g., Ahrens et al 2021, Engel et al 2021, Meier et al 2021.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Braconidae (Hymenoptera) parasitoid wasps as a model group for turbo taxonomy approaches: lessons from the past and recommendations for the future

Fernandez-Triana¹

2021

Preprint

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“…Thus, they might supply pollen and could potentially be used as managed pollinators. In addition, this knowledge gap is closely related to lack of taxonomists due to limited incentive to the development of taxonomy as a discipline in Chile, which is part of a global phenomenon [120]. Currently, research funds available in Chile do not fund studies whose objective is increasing taxonomic knowledge and classification of species.…”

Section: Knowledge Gaps On Pollinators and Pollination In Chilementioning

confidence: 99%

Local Actions to Tackle a Global Problem: A Multidimensional Assessment of the Pollination Crisis in Chile

et al. 2021

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In the last decades, pollinators have drastically declined as a consequence of anthropogenic activities that have local and global impacts. The food industry has been expanding intensive agriculture crops, many of them dependent on animal pollination, but simultaneously reducing native pollinator habitats. Chile is a good example of this situation. Chile is becoming an agro-alimentary powerhouse in Latin America, where intensive agriculture expansion is performed at the expense of natural lands, posing a major threat to biodiversity. Here, we discussed the drivers responsible for the decline of pollinators (including habitat loss, pesticides, invasive species, and climate change) and its synergistic effects. This is particularly critical considering that Chile is a hotspot of endemic bee species locally adapted to specific habitats (e.g., Mediterranean-type ecosystems). However, there is a lack of data and monitoring programs that can provide evidence of their conservation status and contribution to crop yields. Based on our analysis, we identified information gaps to be filled and key threats to be addressed to reconcile crop production and biodiversity conservation. Addressing the local context is fundamental to undertake management and conservation actions with global impact.

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The taxonomic impediment: a shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches

Cited by 156 publications

References 23 publications

Evaluation of the Use of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) for Describing the Species Diversity of Two Coral Reefs in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Evaluation of the Use of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) for Describing the Species Diversity of Two Coral Reefs in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Braconidae (Hymenoptera) parasitoid wasps as a model group for turbo taxonomy approaches: lessons from the past and recommendations for the future

Local Actions to Tackle a Global Problem: A Multidimensional Assessment of the Pollination Crisis in Chile

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