Core Programme
Elements
Core Programme Element 3
The Issue
It is widely recognised that the Earth's biodiversity is poorly known. Although 1.75 million species have been discovered and described, it is estimated that tens of millions of species remain unknown to science. At the same time the understanding of the relationships of organisms is still in its infancy, yet it is this very information that serves as an organizing framework for both basic and applied biology. Finally, although the world's natural history collections (museums, herbaria, living culture facilities, and seed banks) currently house nearly two billion specimens, very little of the information associated with these specimens is available electronically to all countries of the world.
At the national level, increased capacity to undertake systematics research will promote the documentation of the components of biodiversity, identification of patterns of diversity and endemism, recognition of regions of critical conservation concern, and support for efforts to manage habitats, ecosystems, and landscapes as well as agroecosystems and fisheries.
Objectives
This Programme Element is dedicated to promoting systematic/taxonomic research in all countries in order to support ongoing activities to conserve and sustainably use their biodiversity. This will be achieved through international programmes of systematic inventorying, phylogenetic research, the creation of systematic knowledge bases, and the promotion of systematics infrastructure and training.
Benefits
The knowledge generated by systematics - the science dedicated to the discovery, organisation, and interpretation of biodiversity - is critical for the conservation and sustainable use of the components of biodiversity.
Links
This Programme Element links to all STAR Programme Elements in providing support for systematic research within their domains. There is a need to coordinate efforts between this Element and the other Core Elements because systematic knowledge underlies all of biodiversity science, particularly with Elements 2 on Origins, Maintenance, and Change, and 4 on Monitoring. Both have a substantial need for systematics data and efficient coordinating mechanisms will be established.
Linkages are with IUBS, UNESCO, UNEP, with international systematic societies, including the Society of Systematic Biologists, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, Willi Hennig Society, Linnean Society of London, Systematics Association, International Commission on Systematic Bacteriology, the Société française de systèmatique, and with systematic networks such as the European Science Foundation Network on Systematics.
Research Components
This newly developing Element is being coordinated by the IUBS-sponsored
'Systematics Agenda 2000-International' Steering Committee. It is expected
that National Committees will also be established to ensure the broadest
possible international coordination and participation. Three broad programmatic
areas of research and capacity building have been identified below to be
developed into 'research components' with Convenors and Advisory Committees,
with the exception of component (3a) Species 2000.
(The Focal Points for this Element are P.Baas and W.Los)
(1) Systematic Inventory: Discovering and Describing the World's Species
(Co-Convenors: L.Rodriguez, H.Beentje)
Priority setting and capacity building. UNEP/UNESCO/IUBS and other organisations will co-sponsor an international workshop that will provide the conceptual and methodological framework and tools for establishing, prioritising, and evaluating systematic inventories, as well as establishing specific recommendations for building capacity within countries to undertake such work. One of the results of this workshop will be documents that provide technical support and advice to scientists, resource managers, and policy-makers. This will include action plans for establishing or expanding the systematics infrastructure, including collections, research laboratories, and the training of professional systematists and their support staff. The workshop will also complement many current on-going efforts to implement the Convention on Biodiversity, including UNEP's Biodiversity Data Management (BDM) Project, the UNESCO-IOC 'Register of Marine Organisms' and Country Study processes.
(2) Phylogenetics and Classification (Co-Convenors: J.Cracraft, M.Donoghue)
Knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships of groups is the basis of communication systems that are optimally efficient at providing information, and thus facilitating predictions about those characteristics of species and groups not yet fully understood. Given access to such classifications, priorities for biological research, conservation decision, sound management practices, and appropriate public policies all become facilitated.
Priority setting and a phylogenetic classification of life. Gaps in phylogenetic knowledge will have a major impact on global efforts to create predictive databases about biodiversity. A research objective for this area is to establish international needs and priorities for the acquisition of phylogenetic knowledge, beginning with an international workshop. While it is the ultimate goal of systematic biology to predictively classify all taxa, constraints such as resources, expertise, and the varying needs of national biodiversity plans create the urgency for a prioritised approach to phylogenetic studies that best support national efforts to conserve and sustainably use their biodiversity.
Building capacity for phylogenetic research. An understanding of phylogenetic relationships is derived from comparative character analysis across taxa. This requires access to collection-based information and the computational tools to analyse the resulting data. This component of the Element will seek an international consensus on the most effective ways in which electronic information about collections and taxonomic groups can be disseminated to countries and users of systematic information. In addition, mechanisms will be developed to provide systematists in different countries with the computer software to support phylogenetic research.
(3) Management of Systematic Knowledge Bases (Co-Convenors: W.Los, M.Mohamed)
The goal of this area of research is to contribute to the organisation of systematic knowledge into an efficiently retrievable form that best meets the needs of science and society. This effort cannot proceed independently from others which are also introducing biodiversity information into database systems. However, the electronic capture of systematic knowledge is a high priority because it serves as the basis for organizing and coordinating virtually all other biodiversity information.
Supporting ongoing efforts. Many international groups are currently examining the mechanisms of creating and expanding electronic knowledge bases about biodiversity. Systematists are actively engaged in these governmental and non-governmental discussions. This part of the Programme Element will contribute to these efforts, particularly by helping to identify major problems that are in need of solution from the viewpoints of both information users and providers.
Documenting systematic expertise. A global compendium of systematists and the taxonomic groups for which some expertise already exists is not currently available. This information is vitally important for the world's nations as they attempt to inventory, understand, and use their biodiversity. Moreover, these activities are critical for identifying gaps in systematic expertise, which then provides a basis for prioritising training and infrastructural needs. Efforts are underway to document systematic expertise in Europe and North America, and this part of the Element will interface with these and help to extend them globally.
(3a) Species 2000: Indexing the World's Known Species (Convenor: F. Bisby)
There is a critical need within the global scientific community for a register of all the world's 1.75 million known species. Species 2000, established as an IUBS/CODATA/IUMS Scientific Programme, is comprised of an international federation of taxonomic databases, working together to complete this task. The aim of Species 2000 is to provide a world-wide service in the form of an index to all known animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms for use as a baseline reference system for communications about biodiversity. Data from an array of databases will provide both a stabilised Annual Checklist, and a Dynamic Checklist accessed electronically.
Systematics Agenda 2000 International: Action plan
of Systematics Agenda 2000 International.
4) Committee on Recently Extinct Organisms (CREO)
(Co-convenors: I. Harrison and R. MacPhee)
