An advocate for taxonomic research in Australia
Pat HutchingsAustralian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia. Email: pat.hutchings@austmus.gov.au
Pacific Conservation Biology 25(1) 34-36 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC17033
Submitted: 30 August 2017 Accepted: 17 November 2017 Published: 18 December 2017
Abstract
Taxonomic capability in Australia is declining, especially our ability to identify invertebrates. I summarise the importance of being able to accurately identity our fauna and the consequences of failure. I then explore previous attempts to reverse this situation by myself and coworkers and try to explain why these attempts have failed and how it can be rectified in the future to ensure the long-term taxonomic capacity in Australia.
Additional keywords: early career researchers, loss of taxonomic expertise, taxonomic capacity, usefulness of taxonomy
References
FASTS (2003). Proceedings of the National Taxonomy Workshop, Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies. Available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/9ed0bbbf-713c-4959-8d76-6fafaeeb18d8/files/ntf-proceedings.pdfHutchings, P. (2007). Introduced marine pests – how they get here, how do we get rid of them, and how do we know they are really introduced. In ‘Pest or Guest: the Zoology of Overabundance’. (Eds D. Lunney, P. Eby, P. Hutchings, and S. Burgin.) pp. 79–87. (Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales: Sydney.)
Hutchings, P. (2012). Death of life sciences: a personal perspective. Australian Zoologist 36, 242–246.
| Death of life sciences: a personal perspective.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hutchings, P. (2013). Why are taxonomists often regarded as second class citizens? A misclassification that threatens the basic infrastructure of biodiversity. In ‘Grumpy Scientists: The Ecological Conscience of a Nation’. (Eds D. Lunney, P. Hutchings, and H. F. Recher.) pp. 26–30. (Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales: Sydney.)
Hutchings, P. (2014). Aspects of classifying, cataloguing, curating and systematics of marine biodiversity. White Paper. Available at: http://frdc.com.au/environment/NMSC-WHITE/Documents/Submissions/Biodiversity%2c%20conserv%2c%20eco%20health%20subtheme%20paper%20-%20Biodiversity%20Discovery.pdf.
Hutchings, P., and Berents, P. (2015). An obituary to marine taxonomy. Australian Marine Science Bulletin 195(3), 16–22. Available at: http://issuu.com/amsabulletin/docs/bulletin_dec_2014_forweb/16?e=6492809/11042994 [verified 21 November 2017].
Hutchings, P. A., and Karageorgopoulos, P. (2003). Designation of a neotype of Marphysa sanguinea (Montagu, 1813) and a description of a new species of Marphysa from eastern Australia. Hydrobiologia 496, 87–94.
| Designation of a neotype of Marphysa sanguinea (Montagu, 1813) and a description of a new species of Marphysa from eastern Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kupriyanova, E. K., Wong, E., and Hutchings, P. A. (Eds) (2013). Invasive Polychaete Identifier. Version 1.1, 02 December 2013. Available at: http://polychaetes.australianmuseum.net.au/
Ponder, W. F., and Lunney, D. (Eds) (1999). ‘The Other 99%. The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates.’ Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
Zanol, J., Silva, T., and Hutchings, P. (2016). Marphysa (Eunicidae, polychaete, Annelida) species of the Sanguinea-group from Australia, with comments on pseudo-cryptic species. Invertebrate Biology 135, 328–344.
| Marphysa (Eunicidae, polychaete, Annelida) species of the Sanguinea-group from Australia, with comments on pseudo-cryptic species.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Zanol, J., Silva, T., and Hutchings, P. (2017). One new species and two redescriptions of Marphysa (Eunicidae, polychaete, Annelida) species of the Aenea-group from Australia. Zootaxa 4268, 411–426.
| One new species and two redescriptions of Marphysa (Eunicidae, polychaete, Annelida) species of the Aenea-group from Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
