[SEEK-Taxon] volume of papers on taxonomy

[Nico M. Franz]

Hi All:

    There's a new, 180-page long collection of almost 20 papers out on "the 
future of" taxonomy. It's probably the most comprehensive and authoritative 
voicing of taxonomy's issues in quite some time. I haven't had a chance to 
look at all papers yet but for example the ones by Knapp et al. & Lughadha 
are very informative and by people connected to the database developing 
community (from Kew, in this case). Of course there's also the occasional 
"isn't it necessary and wouldn't it be nice if everything was only a 
mouse-click away?" paper by biodiversity silverbacks. I attached the main 
information on the volume below, for those who can access it. Bold font 
means "recommended".

Cheers,

Nico

Nico M. Franz
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
735 State Street, Suite 300
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Phone: (805) 966-1677; Fax: (805) 892-2510; E-mail: franz at nceas.ucsb.edu
Website: http://www.cals.cornell.edu/dept/entomology/wheeler/Franz/Nico.html



The April 2004 issue of Philosophical Transactions series B contains papers 
of a theme entitled Taxonomy for the twenty-first century, compiled and 
edited by Charles Godfray & Sandy Knapp.

Taxonomy, the description and classification of living organisms, is a 
science that underpins many areas of current biology.  Today it is 
confronted with both challenges and opportunities: the challenges are the 
every increasing competition for science funding, the opportunities are new 
technologies and methodologies that assist the practice and dissemination 
of systematics.  The volume contains a lively set of articles that describe 
and debate the current ferment of ideas from which a new 21st century 
taxonomy will emerge.  They are accompanied by a series of short essays by 
Ed Wilson, Dan Janzen, Peter Crane, Bob May and Peter Raven which describe 
their personal views of how the field should develop.

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/phil_trans_bio_taxonomy.shtml

Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences
Issue: Volume 359, Number 1444 / April 29, 2004

         Introduction: One contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy 
for the twenty-first century'   pp. 559 - 569
         H. C. J. Godfray and S. Knapp

         Taxonomic triage and the poverty of phylogeny: One contribution of 
19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'  pp. 571 - 583
         Quentin D. Wheeler

         A taxonomic wish-list for community ecology: One contribution of 
19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'    pp. 585 - 597
         Nicholas J. Gotelli

         Protist taxonomy: an ecological perspective: One contribution of 
19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'    pp. 599 - 610
         Bland J. Finlay

         Stability or stasis in the names of organisms: the evolving codes 
of nomenclature: One contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the 
twenty-first century'      pp. 611 - 622
         Sandra Knapp, Gerardo Lamas, Eimear Nic Lughadha, et al.

         Prokaryote diversity and taxonomy: current status and future 
challenges: One contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the 
twenty-first century'        pp. 623 - 638
         Aharon Oren

         Taxonomy and fossils: a critical appraisal: One contribution of 19 
to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'     pp. 639 - 653
         Peter L. Forey, Richard A. Fortey, Paul Kenrick, et al.

         Automated species identification: why not?: One contribution of 19 
to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'     pp. 655 - 667
         Kevin J. Gaston and Mark A. O'Neill

         The promise of a DNA taxonomy: One contribution of 19 to a Theme 
Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'  pp. 669 - 679
         Mark L. Blaxter

         Towards a working list of all known plant species: One 
contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first 
century'      pp. 681 - 687
         Eimear Nic Lughadha

         Biodiversity informatics: managing and applying primary 
biodiversity data: One contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for 
the twenty-first century'      pp. 689 - 698
         Jorge Soberón and Townsend Peterson

         Unitary or unified taxonomy?: One contribution of 19 to a Theme 
Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'   pp. 699 - 710
         Malcolm J. Scoble

         The role of taxonomy in species conservation: One contribution of 
19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'   pp. 711 - 719
         Georgina M. Mace

         Taxonomy and environmental policy: One contribution of 19 to a 
Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'.     pp. 721 - 728
         Cristián Samper

         Taxonomy: where are we now?: One contribution of 19 to a Theme 
Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'    pp. 729 - 730
         Peter H. Raven Professor FMRS

         Now is the time: One contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy 
for the twenty-first century'        pp. 731 - 732
         Daniel H. Janzen

         Tomorrow's taxonomy: collecting new species in the field will 
remain the rate-limiting step: One contribution of 19 to a Theme Issue 
'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'    pp. 733 - 734
         Robert M. May

         Documenting plant diversity: unfinished business: One contribution 
of 19 to a Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'       pp. 
735 - 737
         Peter R. Crane

         Taxonomy as a fundamental discipline: One contribution of 19 to a 
Theme Issue 'Taxonomy for the twenty-first century'   p. 739
         Edward O. Wilson
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