OVERCOMING THE TAXONOMIC BOTTLENECK
Kendall, M. A.¹; Paterson, G. L. L.² & Aryuthaka, C. ³
1 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, Devon, PL 13 DH, U.K.
2 The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
3 Department of Marine Science, Kasetsart University, Bhang Khen, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Good taxonomy underpins all marine conservation efforts and environmental monitoring but in those countries where economic development is fastest the tools to identify the animals that we find are often lacking. In many such areas, the discovery of undescribed polychaetes is a common event, but in the absence of an accessible literature, workers who are not taxonomists are often content to allocated a new animal a temporary name unique to their laboratory and take no further action. When taxonomists are available, the number of new species, the effort to describe each and the time taken to publish combine time produce a taxonomic bottleneck. This must be overcome if monitoring, conservation and biodiversity assessment are to proceed. Given that resource for rigorous taxonomic training are unlikely to be available, we propose a scheme of provisional taxonomy available to all workers with a computer and a telephone line. This would not replace traditional methods but would facilitate the rapid dissemination of taxonomic information via internet. For a demonstration project in Thailand, we have provided open-access keys which identify polychaetes to family or, in some cases, genus. As yet, there is no point in developing the concept to species level and so our website has a browser page for each genus, containing drawings of all species recorded. An identifier can check his specimen against these illustrations and decide if it can be named. If not, a description (with drawings) is requested; this is facilitated by a standard illustrated form which guides the worker through the conventional taxonomist and the sender will be provided with an identification, a request for more details or the notification that the animal in question is potential new. In the latter case, its description will be placed in the browser along with a temporary identifier relating the reporting laboratory or individual. A request will be made to conserve the specimen for normal taxonomy.