Nature thrives on diversity ...
... so does science!! Swiss scientists are now raising the alarm. By Karin Hollricher
Whilst new species are being discovered and described daily, taxonomists are specifying those creatures which are endangered in the Switzerland. The Swiss Academy of Sciences has called for better funding.
"Swiss science loses important species' specialists", warns a paper written by the Academy. Elderly taxonomists retire and vacancies are not being refilled by younger colleagues but rather with specialists from other disciplines. Though most universities commit to a broad-base in biology studies, numbers of lecturers specialized in systematics are falling drastically, according to a survey done by the Academy. Notably experts for invertebrates and fungi have been omitted. In a nine-sided Position Paper the Academy calls on the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds, the most important Swiss science-funding agency, to act on that development.
Taxonomists play an important role in answering scientific questions related to defining the relationship between species.The paper cites all the well-known examples, i.e. insects that carried and spread a virus damaging sugar beet. Only by correctly determining the species was one able to identify a natural enemy to fight the virus pandemic. Parasites also need to be identified correctly to avoid prescribing wrong medical treatment. Moreover taxonomy is essential for bio monitoring, identifying bacterial species for biotechnological use or plant species for pharmacological reasons and finding natural solutions to managing pests.
These arguments have been known by many for a long time but repeating them didn't and still doesn't prevent the downgrade of systematics, the doom of Museums of Natural Science, or the depletion of taxonomists. Not in Switzerland, nor in any other countries. Of course, that all has a lot to do with temporary fashions in science funding. Fifteen years ago "acid rain" was the magic word that opened a casket of funding agencies. For a few years it's been "omics". And one can foresee "bio-nano" having the next "open-sesame" effect.
To improve funding taxonomists have to wake up. They have been dormant far longer than their colleagues in other countries, i.e. in the United States. The time has now come to beat the PR-drum much louder. In fact, the public's attention is usually very enthusiastic when a new large animal species has been discovered. But just you try to find out how many species - new orchids, new ants, new whatever species - have been found in tree tops over 20 years of canopy research. I gave it a go and really tried my best but was left frustrated and annoyed because I couldn't get any clear answers. Why not? Because too much has been found to be made known to or be summarized by a single scientist.
On the other hand, pure numbers shouldn't pose a real problem. Remember Craig Venter? He sailed around the Caribbean, drew up a pail full of water, ran it through a DNA sequencer, published a Science paper and sparked a huge amount of interest - not only in the scientific community but also among the general public.
Incidentally, pairing up taxonomists and genomic experts is an extremely successful experiment that has generated a new field of research, namely metagenomics. It's also a very good example by which to demonstrate the necessity and importance of systematics. We're now waiting for the species Venter found to be correctly specified so that more can be learned about the biology, biochemistry and behaviour of these microbes! This a fantastic opportunity for taxonomists to prove that modern genomics alone do not lead very far in biology and that unhip disciplines like taxonomy are also imperative.
