LINNE IS NECESSARY
LINNE will build on the nation's investments in natural history collections and innovative programs that have energized taxonomic research. Examples include NSF programs and initiatives, such as those supporting the education of taxonomists (Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy), acceleration of taxonomic revisions (Revisionary Syntheses in Systematics), expansion of expeditionary exploration (Planetary Biodiversity Inventories), and a framework phylogeny of life (Assembling the Tree of Life), as well as increased investment in core NSF programs such as Systematic Biology, Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories, Biological Research Collections, and Biological Databases and Informatics. Continuation and expansion of these programs and initiatives are vital to meeting the challenge of the taxonomic crisis.
LINNE will build on the nation's investments in natural history collections and innovative programs that have energized taxonomic research.
LINNE will transform taxonomy, modernize collections, and open taxonomic knowledge to science and society. With environmental deterioration accelerating, little time remains for documenting the world's biodiversity. Taxonomy and biological collections remain the core resources for accomplishing this extremely important task. Our generation is the first to fully comprehend the biodiversity crisis and the last with the opportunity to explore and document the life of our planet. LINNE is necessary if we are to succeed!
COMPLETING TAXONOMY; CATFISHES AS AN EXAMPLE
Estimates of the numbers of species of organisms yet to be discovered and described vary
greatly; however, all taxonomists agree that fewer than one-half are described. With about
2,750 described species, catfishes are an exceptionally diverse group. About 1 in 4 species
of freshwater fishes, 1 in 10 fishes, and 1 in 20 vertebrates, is a catfish. However, catfishes
are most diverse in the least-explored parts of the tropics, and the number of catfish species
is thought to be much greater than recognized. A project recently funded by the Planetary
Biodiversity Inventories (PBI) initiative of the U.S. National Science Foundation is expected
to result in the description of 873 to 1,750 new species of catfishes.
Time remaining to complete the taxonomy of Earth's biodiversity is rapidly decreasing. As the human population grows, habitats are lost, and species are driven to extinction. Without an accelerated effort, many species will disappear before they are discovered. With their disappearance, the natural complexity and beauty of our planet is diminished, as are opportunities to develop new foods, medicines, and biocontrol strategies. We are the first generation to fully comprehend the magnitude of the biodiversity crisis and the last to have the opportunity to respond in the most meaningful way. LINNE will promote initiatives and programs that enhance our ability to complete the most important task before us: documentation of life on Earth.
