Towards a global list of accepted species II. Consequences of inadequate taxonomic list governance

Species lists are widely used in legislation and regulation to manage and conserve biodiversity. In this paper, we explore the issues caused by the lack of an adequately governed and universally accepted list of the world’s species. These include lack of quality control, duplicated effort, conflicts...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organisms diversity & evolution 2021-12, Vol.21 (4), p.623-630
Main Authors: Thomson, Scott A., Thiele, Kevin, Conix, Stijn, Christidis, Les, Costello, Mark John, Hobern, Donald, Nikolaeva, Svetlana, Pyle, Richard L., van Dijk, Peter Paul, Weaver, Haylee, Zachos, Frank E., Zhang, Zhi-Qiang, Garnett, Stephen T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Biodiversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Conflicts of interest
Developmental Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Governance
Informatics
Legislation
Life Sciences
Modernization
Original Article
Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Quality control
Species
Species checklists
Taxonomy
Towards a global list of accepted species
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Summary:Species lists are widely used in legislation and regulation to manage and conserve biodiversity. In this paper, we explore the issues caused by the lack of an adequately governed and universally accepted list of the world’s species. These include lack of quality control, duplicated effort, conflicts of interest, lack of currency, and confusion in the scientific use of taxonomic information. If species lists are to fulfill their role efficiently, then the governance systems underlying their creation must keep pace. Fortunately, modernization of species list governance is now possible as a result of advances in biodiversity informatics and two decades of experience working to create the backbone of a global species list.
ISSN:1439-6092
1618-1077
DOI:10.1007/s13127-021-00518-8