1. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008

2. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 The European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy: Assessing and building taxonomic capacity in Europe

3. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy Undiscovered species Estimated number of species Source: WCMC, 1992. Global biodiversity assessment. Chapman & Hall.

4. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy Historical legacy Scientific taxonomy and taxonomic collections were invented and developed in Europe from the 18th century on. European Taxonomic Institutions have been developed for two centuries –as instruments of the national or regional policies –in competition with other European institutions –as instruments for the education of the public –often in relation with colonial policies (19th – mid 20th century) As education and Public Awareness evolved, European collections progressively became a resource for the scientists themselves, ie an infrastructure for research and expertise Now almost all the EU collections (1 billion specimens?) used by scientists, and most not exhibited for the public. They include reference specimens from all over the world, and not only Europe

5. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy Taxonomic bias 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 2002-03 Names 0 20 40 60 1992-93 Authors New fish species Source: P. Bouchet

6. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy Taxonomic bias (2) New nematode species 1992-93 2002-03 Names Authors 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Source: P. Bouchet

7. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy The need to upscale 5 10 15 20 UNDISCOVERED  1.8 18 175018001850190019502000 Known species (millions) Source: K. Krishtalka

8. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy The need to upscale (2) Source: K. Krishtalka 175018001850190019502000 5 10 15 20 Something has to happen here 1.8 18 Known species (millions) ?

9. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy The micro-world Source: M. Blaxter

10. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy EU Fauna: State of the art Source: P. Bouchet

11. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy EU capacities Source: Fauna Europaea, P. Bouchet Descriptions (232 species) 46% 40% 2% 12% Descriptors (N = 123) 55% 13% 2% 30% Amateurs describe proportionnaly more than professionals! In Europe more than half of the species are described by people who are not paid for that. Professionals Retired professionals Students Amateurs

12. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy Terrestrial & Freshwater European animal species Source: Fauna Europaea, P. Bouchet

13. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy Unequal strengths Data produced on Mollusca (external means collected elsewhere in the world) Source: P. Bouchet

14. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy biodiversity hotspot holder of large amounts of biodiversity data EDIT partners (27)

15. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 1. Current state of taxonomy CETAF as a catalyst CETAF Related Projects, 1996-2005 ENBI: European Network for Biodiversity Information ENHSIN: European Natural History Specimen Information Network BioCASE: A Biological Collection Access Service for Europe FAUNA EUROPAEA: to assemble a database of the scientific names and distribution of all living multicellular European land and fresh-water animals Euro+Med PlantBase: The Euro+Med PlantBase provides an on-line database and information system for the vascular plants of Europe and the Mediterranean region. SYNTHESYS: To provide transnational access grants to 20 CETAF natural history museums and botanical gardens

16. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Partners

17. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Partners – European Institutions

18. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Work Packages EDIT coordination and management WP1 Coordination And integration Integrating the expert and expertise basis WP2 Integrating the infrastructure basis WP3 Coordinating research WP4 Resources Internet Platform for Cybertaxonomy WP5 Unifying Revisionary taxonomy WP6 Applying taxonomy to conservation WP7 Training and Public Awareness WP8 Products

19. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Functional Structure 2. EDIT

20. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT European taxonomic capacities: assessing, developing and mobilising the workforce 3. European taxonomic capacities

21. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 EDIT European Global Professionals (”EDIT”) European Global Non-professionals/ Amateurs Integration: top-down, organisation Integration: bottom-up (”grass-root”) The taxonomist workforce Source: H. Enghoff 3. European taxonomic capacities

22. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 3. European taxonomic capacities The Expertise basis Information service on taxonomic expertise Involving taxonomic societies Integrating research teams Integrate existing infrastructures (Pan- European Species directories Infrastructures)

23. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Exemplar Groups 3. European taxonomic capacities

24. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 3. European taxonomic capacities Stakeholders Identifying and engaging taxonomy stakeholders for each EDIT activity Bibliometric maps (scientific users) Thematic workshops (names, collections...) Case studies on best/worst practice

25. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Building a better capacity in taxonomic work 4. Building a better capacity

26. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Scratchpads Your data 1 Published & reviewed on your site 3 Uploaded & tagged 2 Source: V. Smith 4. Building a better capacity

27. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Scratchpads …and more! Import, manage, search & browse: Taxonomies Specimens Literature Images Source: V. Smith 4. Building a better capacity

28. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 4. Building a better capacity Source: C. Haeuser Since June 2007 in the Mercantour / Alpi Marittime NPs 1st EDIT ATBI+M pilot site:

29. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 4. Building a better capacity Source: C. Haeuser Non-European candidate sites

30. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 4. Building a better capacity Source: C. Haeuser 2008: New ATBI sites

31. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 4. Building a better capacity From the field to baseline biodiversity data: Conservation management Individual users of baseline biodiversity data GBIF WP5, WP7 Online accessibility & tools WP5, WP6, WP7 Organization of teams and field activities Standardaized ATBI data recording, aggregation. & management WP1, WP7, WP8 WP2, WP3, WP7 Fieldwork → Development → Application Source: C. Haeuser

32. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 2. EDIT Planning for the future 5. Preparing for the future

33. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 5. Preparing for the future Future Scoping Group conclusions That taxonomy faces exciting challenges and opportunities in the future to meet the demand for an ever more profound understanding of the diversity of life (…) Pivotal to the development of taxonomy are the rapidly expanding fields of high throughput DNA sequencing, automated digital data- gathering and biodiversity informatics (…) Scientific collaborators and users of taxonomy will require new ways of working and interacting with taxonomists. It is essential that taxonomists and their users respond to this need. (…) (…) there will have to be substantial, even radical, changes in how taxonomy is done and its supporting infrastructure operated, to exploit these opportunities to the full. “Business as usual”, even if scaled up, is simply not an option.

34. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 5. Preparing for the future Source: J. Van Goethem Training: Collected Data

35. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 5. Preparing for the future Training the next generation EDIT Summer School of Taxonomy, 1-15 Sept. 2008, Mercantour/Alpi Marittime (French Research Ministry grant) Experts-in-training programme Gender Action Plan grants

36. CBD CoP9 GTI Side Event 22/5/2008 tillier@mnhn.fr