[Taxacom] Taxonomy in Europe in the 21st century

[Roger Hyam (TDWG)]

We could have a register of botanical names  with a fast and efficient  
system for deprecating names which are not in current use or supported  
by good descriptions and types (instead of spending years trying to  
lectotypify them) that would save some time and cost comparatively  
little.

But then I'll probably get flamed for even suggesting such a thing :)

Roger


On 6 May 2008, at 11:32, Gael Lancelot wrote:

> Dear TAXACOMers,
>
> As we all know, taxonomy is at a crossroads. As the most fundamental  
> of life sciences, is more vital than ever to our understanding and  
> management of biodiversity. Societal changes and new technologies  
> currently lead to fast and deep-ranging transformations in taxonomic  
> science.
>
> To plan for the future, the European Distributed Institute of  
> Taxonomy has gathered prominent researchers in the relevant fields  
> as well as young scientists, all with an established production of  
> excellent research. They have produced a scientific vision for the  
> future of taxonomy in the next 10 to 20 years. This report,  
> *“Taxonomy in Europe in the 21^st Century”,* is now released for  
> discussion in the scientific community and general public. It is  
> available at the following address: http://ww2.bgbm.org/EditDocumentRepository/Taxonomy21report.pdf
>
> The overall conclusions of the report are:
>
>   * That taxonomy faces exciting challenges and opportunities in the
>     future to meet the demand for an ever more profound understanding
>     of the diversity of life on this planet, how it developed and the
>     impact of increasingly destructive human activity including
>     climate change, factors that are predicted to have an enormous
>     negative influence on the diversity and distribution of
>     biodiversity (the biodiversity crisis)
>   * Pivotal to the development of taxonomy are the rapidly expanding
>     fields of high throughput DNA sequencing, automated digital
>     data-gathering and biodiversity informatics. Incorporating these
>     technologies will be critical to the science of taxonomy.
>   * Scientific collaborators and users of taxonomy will require new
>     ways of working and interacting with taxonomists. It is essential
>     that taxonomists and their users respond to this need. Taxonomists
>     integrated into interdisciplinary teams will be an essential way
>     of working.
>   * Although an ever expanding repertoire of theoretical and practical
>     tools is available to taxonomists, unheralded in the history of
>     the subject, there will have to be substantial, even radical,
>     changes in how taxonomy is done and its supporting infrastructure
>     operated, to exploit these opportunities to the full. “Business as
>     usual”, even if scaled up, is simply not an option.
>
> The Board of Directors of EDIT, representing 27 major taxonomic  
> institutions in and outside Europe, has approved this document as a  
> scientific roadmap for future development of taxonomy in research,  
> training and technology in the coming decades.
>
> More information on EDIT is available at http://e-taxonomy.eu <http://e-taxonomy.eu/ 
> >. Any questions or reactions will be welcome at lancelot at mnhn.fr <mailto:lancelot at mnhn.fr 
> >.
>
> Thank you,
>
> -- 
> Gaël Lancelot
> Communication Officer
> European Institute of Taxonomy
> Tel: (0033)1 40 79 80 19
> lancelot at mnhn.fr
> http://e-taxonomy.eu
>
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