| Abstract Detail
Where is plant systematics headed in the next ten years? Tripp, Erin [1]. The Biodiversity Information Synthesis. While phylogenetic systematics and tree thinking have now been sprinting strong for five decades, a reawakened interest in the role and impact of biodiversity collections epitomizes the last two decades. We have entered into an age of new scientific capacity in which biological collections function as a nucleus in a grand network of inquiry. Collections provide multi-dimensional information potential and are thus valuable to many disciplines beyond our own. I explore various aspects that characterize this Biodiversity Information Synthesis: achievements, threats, shifting personnel roles, technological advancements, and predictions on future trends, both bleak and promising. I present new and earlier ideas, some heterodox and controversial, on the economic value of biodiversity collections and the role of taxonomists in the modern biodiversity crisis. I close with 10 best practices that we systematists may wish to consider to guarantee our role as protagonists in the latest chapter on biodiversity. This transformative period of reassessing the functions and values of biological collections ought not be regarded casually, for it has potential to be recorded as one of the great movements in the history of science. Broader Impacts:
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1 - Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, 1500 N College Ave, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA
Keywords:
biodiversity
collections
conservation
natural history
museum
specimen.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY07
Location: Franklin A/Hyatt
Date: Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
Time: 4:15 PM
Number: SY07007
Abstract ID:283 |
