Seminar 7 November 2000, at Department of Population Ecology
The Taxonomist as a Threatened Species:
Some Possible Conservation Measures?
by
Chris O´Toole
Bee Systematics and Biology Unit,
Hope Entomological Collections,
Oxford University Muserum of Natural History,
Oxford UK
Abstract:
With fewer universities in Europe teaching Animal Kingdom-based courses in their zoology departments, we are producing
a new generation of taxonomically illiterate graduates. At the same time, there is a growth in ecological and biodiversity
research, all of which is ultimately dependent on sound taxonomy. One reaction to the decline in the number of taxonomists
has been the development of that most comical of ecological concepts, the Recognizeable Taxonomic Unit which provides
only symptomatic relief for the ecologist’s discomfort arising from the malignancy we can call the Taxonomic Deficit.
Using examples from insect taxonomy, especially bees, I will explore and discuss not only the Taxonomic Deficit but also
the Taxonomic Impediment, both of which impact negatively on research in ecology, biodiversity studies and conservation
biology. There is hope, arising ultimately from the Rio82 Convention on Biodiversity and I will discuss some of the spinoffs from this, especially the São Paulo Declaration on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators in Agriculture,
with Special Emphasis on Bees, which I helped to formulate. I will then discuss some possible solutions to the these
problems.
Place:
Thursday 7 November, at 15:00 (precise)
Department of Population Ecology
Build. 12, Kollokvierum 1, 1st floor
Universitetsparken 15
2100 Kbh.Ø.