ABSTRACT
The greatest contributions of taxonomy to science and humanity are yet to come. Against formidable odds and with minimal funding, equipment, infrastructure, organization and encouragement, taxonomists have discovered, described and classified
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 211 The 2020 Challenge ............................................................................................... 213 The Call to Arms ................................................................................................... 214 Attributes of the New Taxonomy ........................................................................... 215
Planetary-Scale Projects ............................................................................. 216 Accelerated Species Testing ....................................................................... 216 Taxon Knowledge Communities ................................................................ 217 Taxonomy-Specific Cyberinfrastructure .................................................... 217 Electronic Apprenticeships .........................................................................220 One-Stop Shopping for Names ...................................................................220 A Species Identification Arsenal ................................................................220 Unit Species Concept ..................................................................................220 History, Philosophy and Sociology of Taxonomy ...................................... 221 Engage Museums in Global Inventory ....................................................... 221 Democratization of Taxonomy ................................................................... 221 Museum Leadership ................................................................................... 222
Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 222 References ..............................................................................................................224
nearly 1.8 million species. While increasing attention is being paid to making this substantial amount of accumulated taxonomic information more easily accessible, comparatively little attention has been paid to opening access to the research resources required by taxonomists themselves. Benefits associated with ease of access to museum records (e.g. Global Biodiversity Information Facility) or ‘known’ species (e.g. Encyclopedia of Life) are seriously restricted when such information is untested for validity or is simply unavailable, as is the case for three-quarters or more of the species on Earth. We act as if taxonomy is done but nothing could be farther from the truth. Even in comparatively well-known areas of the world such as Europe or North America, much remains to be done in both describing new species and testing putatively ‘known’ ones. For most areas of the world, including those with the largest numbers of species, the situation is far worse and the process of species exploration has scarcely begun.
