Memorandum submitted by BugLife
1. What is the state of systematics research
and taxonomy in the UK? What are the current research priorities?
What are the barriers, if any, to delivering these priorities?
There has been little progress in addressing
the issues raised in the previous inquiry. There is a strong perception
of continued erosion in the number and expertise levels of professional
taxonomists employed by museums and universities and a continued
reduction in the availability of professional taxonomic expertise
in the UK. Museum based experts are expected to work on projects
undertaken as contracts by their institutes. As a result they
are less able to support largely unfunded taxonomic work in the
UK. In effect this results in government resources directed into
UK taxonomy and systematics being diverted to subsidies a semi-commercial
operation. At the same time more museums are charging the public
and volunteer experts for providing opinions on the identification
of specimens. This is reducing the access that the public has
to the UK's taxonomy resource. Much of the work in this field
is undertaken in the voluntary sector: the main pool of expertise
remains among professionals whose taxonomic studies are a hobby
and amateurs who record and identify species in their spare time.
More needs to be done to harness this energy and expertise more
efficiently.
2. What is the role of systematics and taxonomy
and, in particular, in what way do they contribute to research
areas such as biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and
climate change? How important is this contribution and how is
it recognised in the funding process? How is systematics integrated
in other areas of research?
Systematics and taxonomy are the foundation
of our knowledge of the diversity of invertebrates around us.
Current biodiversity action relies on sound species identifications.
Where the identification, status and requirements of a species
have not been defined it is impossible to set conservation priorities.
Understanding how life on earth will respond
to climate change and how we will need to interact with these
changes so as to minimise the damage to biodiversity is dependent
on taxonomic expertise and is critical to our future health and
wellbeing.
The understanding of agricultural ecosystems
is essential to developing cost effective and environmentally
benign farming practices. Parasitic wasps are very important tools
for controlling populations of pests. There are so few taxonomists
left in Europe that it is not proving possible for researchers
to accurately name the species they are studying. Hence, one group
studying the use of parasitic hymenoptera for pest control is
unable to compare results with other studies as they are unable
to determine if they are investigating the same species.
3. Does the way in which systematics research
is organised and co-coordinated best meet the needs of the user
community? What progress has been made in setting up a body to
lead on this? What contribution do the leading systematics research
institutions make both nationally and internationally?
No comment.
4. What level of funding would be needed to
meet the need for taxonomic information now and in the future?
Who should be providing this funding?
Targeted funding is required to build up taxonomic
expertise in museums and universities and to ensure that more
people are trained in the identification of invertebrate species.
The benefits of taxonomic expertise are accrued
broadly across the populace in terms of a healthier environment,
ecosystem services, improved agricultural practices and medicinal
benefits. At the same time there is little commercial imperative
to undertake this service, hence it is appropriate that this is
funded from the public purse.
5. How does funding in other countries compare?
Could there be more international collaboration? If so, what form
should this collaboration take and how might it be achieved?
No comment.
6. What impact have developments in DNA sequencing,
genomics and other new technologies had on systematics research?
In what way has systematics embraced new technologies and how
can these research areas interact successfully and efficiently?
Developments in DNA sequencing, genomics and
other new technologies play an important role in unraveling complex
groups of species. It is however difficult for amateurs and those
undertaking research on a voluntary basis to engage with these
new technologies.
DATA COLLECTION,
MANAGEMENT, MAINTENANCE
AND DISSEMINATION
7. Does the way in which taxonomic data is
collected, managed and maintained best meet the needs of the user
community? What is the state of local and national recording schemes?
Local and national recording schemes for invertebrates
play a vital role in collecting, interpreting and mobilising biological
data. With the exception of the more popular groups such as butterflies
and dragonflies, these schemes exist solely through the voluntary
effort of enthusiastic individuals. There is an urgent need for
adequate funding and resources to be targeted at the support of
local biological record centres and national recording schemes
and societies.
8. What is the role of the major regional
museums and collections? How are taxonomic collections curated
and funded?
Museums act as important archives of taxonomic
information. Voucher specimens are particularly important for
invertebrates and it is essential that museums are able to accept
newly collected material and to curate this effectively so that
it is maintained as an increasingly valuable resource.
9. What progress has been made in developing
a web-based taxonomy? How do such initiatives fit in with meeting
demand for systematics and taxonomy information? How do UK-led
initiatives fit in with international initiatives and is there
sufficient collaboration?
Limited progress has been made towards a web-based
taxonomy. Many groups of invertebrates are inadequately covered
by traditional keys, or the available keys are out-dated or difficult
to use. User-friendly keys are appearing, but progress is slow
and heavily reliant on volunteer specialists. Before significant
progress can be made with web-based taxonomy it will be necessary
to develop traditional keys for many of the less well known groups.
10. What needs to be done to ensure that web-based
taxonomy information is of high quality, reliable and user-friendly?
To ensure that web-based taxonomy is user-friendly
it is essential that users of all abilities and experience are
involved in its development and testing and that there are sufficient
taxonomic experts involved to provide an authoritative tool. There
is also a need to ensure that such initiatives are funded in the
long term, otherwise there is a risk that they will become outdated.
11. How does the taxonomic community engage
with the non-taxonomic community? What role do field studies play?
Engagement with the non-taxonomic community
is critically important and field studies play a major role in
this. The ESRC funded "Amateurs as Experts" project
looked at collaborations such as the anglers' monitoring initiative
and found that there is no single way of working with the variety
of Britain's amateur expert naturalists. In particular there is
a lack of professional mentoring for amateur naturalists. Without
such mentoring it may be difficult, if not impossible for an amateur
to progress their taxonomic knowledge.
Experienced naturalists are a unique and valuable
resource with a long history in British society. There needs to
be more explicit recognition that these naturalists are often
the drivers of biodiversity conservation work.
SKILLS BASE
12. What are the numbers and ages of trained
taxonomists working in UK universities and other organisations?
Professional expertise in universities and other
organisations appears to have continued to decline severely over
recent decades. Systematic biology is virtually dead because funding
is very poor or non-existent and career opportunities are few.
Figures, particularly for universities, are difficult to define
as research staff have not historically been categorised according
to their taxonomic skills.
We would draw attention specifically to the
taxonomy of parasitic hymenoptera, mites and nematodes. The animals
may be small, but in each group there are thousands of species
and they occur throughout the UK in every ecosystem. Yet our taxonomic
knowledge is so low that we do not even have an estimate of how
many species of mite or nematode occur in the UK. There have been
more general taxonomists on these groups employed in the past,
but now all the work seems to be focused on pest groups and there
is very little work on cataloguing the extensive wild faunas.
13. What is the state of training and education
in systematics and taxonomy? Are there any gaps in capacity? Is
the number of taxonomists in post, and those that are being trained,
sufficient to meet current and future needs across all taxonomic
subject areas?
Though biodiversity is recognised in a growing
number of university environmental courses, the need for sound
taxonomic experience is hardly acknowledged and amateurs continue
to represent the main core of taxonomic expertise. The education
system fails to provide the skills in taxonomy that conservation
bodies and voluntary organisations require. This deficiency means
that for us as a conservation charity, and others in the sector,
it is very difficult to recruit staff and volunteers with the
necessary skills in identification and species level ecology.
It is increasing difficult to find the opportunity for in-house
training for the development of taxonomic skills and voluntary
organisations are faced with having to pick up the costs for taxonomic
training.
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