[Taxacom] Taxonomy in Europe in the 21st century

[John Grehan]

> On Behalf Of George D.F. (Buz) Wilson
> 3. I could go on, but the biggest problem is not a empirical
scientific
> one: funding agencies provide research support in a zero-sum
> competition....given grants
> to researchers who do not describe species but only collect mtDNA
> sequences....encouraging Museum managers to hire molecular-only
researchers....bring
> in more money. Maybe so, but what about the hundreds & thousands of
> undescribed taxa in the collections? And even more in our rapidly
> degrading global habitat?

I concur with the above views. Molecular taxonomy/systematics has made
grand claims and appears to have succeeded in sucking in the money to
the extent that non-molecular methods are in disrepute (and is the sole
reason why the orangutan-human origin evidence is discounted out of
hand)with the result that non-molecular taxonomy and systematics is
under funded and continues to decline, along with recognition of the
importance of collections.
 
> So in my view, the concept of "DNA taxonomy" steals both the focus and
> the funding from our need to build global taxomomic capacity. Doing so
> is a complex problem; we should not make it more complicated by the
use
> of poorly defined concepts.

But we will, it seems to be human nature
 
> Disclaimer: I use genetic data, but for me its role is in
understanding
> patterns and timing of speciation, rather than being directly involved
> in the descriptive part of the research. 

And I don't, and I get hit for that a lot. 

John Grehan