Planetary Biodiversity Inventories as Models for the New Taxonomy

The world faces a taxonomic crisis caused by the juxtaposition of the biodiversity crisis (National Science Board, 1989) and severe impediments to taxonomic research (Page et al., 2005). In 2003, the US National Science Foundation reacted to the taxonomic crisis by launching ‘planetary biodiversity inventories’, a new initiative intended to remove or reduce the impediments to taxonomic research. These impediments are insufficient taxonomic expertise, inadequate funding for research and isolation of resources required for completion of taxonomic research.