Memorandum submitted by Dr. Genoveva Esteban
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?
State of systematic research and taxonomy in
the UK: still declining. Molecular approaches to systematics do
get funding, but whole-organism-biology studies get nothing or
almost nothing in comparison.
Current research priorities: molecular tools
do not answer ecological and/or conservation questions. Research
on species and their ecological function in nature gets little
attention, unless molecular tools are incorporated in the research.
This is a mistake.
Barriers: lack of funding for non-molecular
taxonomic/systematic research, especially studies related to the
ecological role of whole organisms. There is a lack of investment
on whole-organism initiatives.
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?
The only way to detect the effect of climate
or environmental change is by the direct observation of, eg a
community of organisms (be it plants, animals or microbes), and
how that community has changed either in composition or in relative
species abundances. This is still cheap and fast to do, but it
is little recognised in the funding process (see response to point
1 above). Systematics and taxonomy can be incorporated in other
areas of research by changing their name so that potential reviewers
do not look at it with "bad" eyes. For example, "traditional
taxonomy" becomes "biodiversity".
3. Does the way in which systematics research
is organised and co-ordinated 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?
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?
Research Councils like NERC could provide funding
for taxonomic information, both for new and for keeping and updating
national archives. The UK used to be a leading nation in taxonomic
research ever since the 19th Century. Some senior managers of
certain public organisations refer to taxonomy as "stamp
collection", which highlights the level of unawareness that
exists at such levels. Funding provided could be the equivalent
to, eg one of NERC's Thematic Programmes (some of which, incidentally,
have proved to be very productive, taxonomically speaking in the
past).
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?
Yes, there could be more international collaboration,
especially for knowledge-transfer initiatives, eg training, workshops
and seminars.
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?
DNA sequencing has taken over completely. A
taxonomic study without a molecular section is a lost study unless
it has a large conservation-only component. Some work on taxonomy
and systematic has incorporated new technologies only to demonstrate
the usefulness of the phenotype alone for explaining how nature
works, how ecosystems function, and the patterns of biodiversity
at local and global levels.
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?
Some schemes have been withdrawn funding completely—so,
they depend on charitable donations. To meet the needs of the
user community taxonomic data should improve web-based information
and the way they transfer the knowledge accumulated in their databases.
Such databases are now important historical records for studies
on global change biology and local/national climate changes.
8. What is the role of the major regional
museums and collections? How are taxonomic collections curated
and funded?
I can talk by my own experience. I consider
myself lucky as I was offered (and I accepted) a job at one of
London's leading universities to bring taxonomy back to the curriculum.
I am currently using national culture collections and similar
facilities to improve teaching of taxonomy at the University,
and to get students to realise the wealth of knowledge that exists
in UK museums and collections. NERC subsidises some culture collections,
which also get a limited extra funding from the business of selling
cultures.
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?
Some progress has been made with web-based taxonomy.
The valuable datasets that exist at local and national level should
be available on-line—this would be a great step forward.
However, the main component of taxonomy, ie taxonomists themselves,
is in very short supply and still declining—this should
not be underestimated.
10. What needs to be done to ensure that web-based
taxonomy information is of high quality, reliable and user-friendly?
Promoting taxonomy in schools and universities,
and to get students to be involved in preparing user-friendly
web-based taxonomic information.
11. How does the taxonomic community engage
with the non-taxonomic community? What role do field studies play?
Field studies seem to be declining too (I was
told this when I joined the University). Promoting this kind of
work in primary and secondary schools would indeed help to form
the researchers of future generations that will safeguard natural
Britain. There are many enthusiastic teachers and students out
there that do not have the chance to collaborate with scientists
or do not even know there are scientists in the area where they
live. The Royal Society and other organisations are helping to
overcome this problem, eg Partnership grants.
SKILLS BASE
12. What are the numbers and ages of trained
taxonomists working in UK universities and other organisations?
I would not know the answer, other than that
the age has significantly increased in the last 15 years and that
the number of taxonomists has decreased as older taxonomists have
gone into retirement.
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?
Current numbers are not enough to meet current
or, especially, future needs unless, of course, taxonomists are
not needed anymore (as some people seem to claim).
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