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Taxonomy must engage with new technologies and evolve to face future challenges

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 3–4 (2021)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Despite taxonomy being fundamental to biology for discovering, describing and identifying the units of analysis across disciplines1, it is generally agreed that the perceived importance of taxonomy is diminishing2. In the face of this paradoxical decline, we argue that fulfilment of a long-promised ‘taxonomic renaissance’3 must be strategic because few permanent taxonomic positions exist, little funding is available, and challenges are manifold.

We need to start with digitization and online accessioning of type specimens, prioritizing those taken from their countries of origin4, as well as capacity building to enable taxonomists in developing countries to perform the best work possible and to collaborate globally5. Via high-resolution imaging technology, virtual taxonomy laboratory (VTL) approaches can accelerate taxonomic collaboration and productivity online. As these setups may be expensive, federal governments should prioritize establishing at least one such centre nationally to collaboratively write diagnoses, descriptions and manuscripts. Through mutually beneficial partnerships involving training and specimen exchanges, integrative approaches that incorporate many lines of evidence could become feasible worldwide.

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Acknowledgements

M.C.O., R.R.F. and C.-D.Z. were mainly supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, China (31625024, 41761144068 and 31772495), and the Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y229YX5105). Other supports include the Research Fund for International Young Scientists NSFC 31850410464 and the CAS PIFI (2018PB0003 and 2020PB0142 to M.C.O.; 2020PB0130 to R.R.F.; and 2018PB0007 to A.R.); NSFC 31961143002 (to M.B.); and NRF2017NRF-NSFC001-015 (to J.S.A.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Michael C. Orr, Rafael R. Ferrari, Jun Chen, Ming Bai, Andrey Rudoy & Chao-Dong Zhu

  2. Landscape Ecology Group, Centre for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China

    Alice C. Hughes

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore

    John S. Ascher

  4. Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Orchid Conservation and Utilization, The National Orchid Conservation Centre of China and The Orchid Conservation and Research Centre of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China

    Yue-Hong Yan

  5. Natural History Museum, London, UK

    Paul H. Williams

  6. Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Xin Zhou

  7. Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

    Feng Zhang

  8. Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Ke-Ping Ma

  9. College of Biological Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Chao-Dong Zhu

Authors
  1. Michael C. Orr
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  2. Rafael R. Ferrari
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Contributions

C.-D.Z. and M.C.O. conceived the paper. M.C.O. led the writing with primary inputs from R.R.F., A.C.H. and C.-D.Z. M.C.O., R.R.F., A.C.H., J.C., J.S.A., Y.-H.Y., P.H.W., X.Z., M.B., A.R., F.Z., K.-P.M. and C.-D.Z. contributed to multiple drafts and provided substantial inputs overall.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Michael C. Orr or Chao-Dong Zhu.

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Orr, M.C., Ferrari, R.R., Hughes, A.C. et al. Taxonomy must engage with new technologies and evolve to face future challenges. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 3–4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01360-5

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