[Coral-List] A Tale of Stupidity

Rhyne, Andrew arhyne at rwu.edu
Fri Feb 12 21:07:38 EST 2010


Diversity 2010, 2(1), 115-126; doi:10.3390/d2010115

The Study of Species in the Era of Biodiversity: A Tale of Stupidity

Ferdinando Boero
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali DiSTeBA, Universita` del Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Abstract: Research policies ensuing from the Convention on Biological Diversity made huge funds available to study biodiversity. These were mostly dedicated to projects aimed at providing services to taxonomy via information and technology, or to develop "modern", i.e., molecular, approaches to taxonomy. Traditional taxonomy was overly neglected and is in serious distress all over the world. It is argued that both novel and traditional ways to study biodiversity are essential and that the demise of traditional taxonomy (based on phenotypes) in the era of biodiversity is the result of an unwise policy, mainly fostered by portions of the scientific community that aim at taking total advantage of the funds dedicated to the study of biodiversity.

Keywords: biodiversity; traditional taxonomy; molecular taxonomy; information and technology; research policies

OPEN ACCESS AVAILABLE AT:
http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/1/115




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