ZooBank and theTaxonomic Renaissance
Quentin WheelerKeeper and Head of Entomology
The Natural History Museum, London
0100200300400500600700800900
1000
1000 SPP
INSECTSARTHROANIM ALSPLANTSFUNGIOTHER
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
known unknown
species inmillions
Applied Taxonom
y
Basic Taxonom
y
Services &
Problem-solving
Curiosity-driven
Taxonomy’s “Grand Challenge” Questions
Grand Challenge Questions
• What species exist?• Phylogeny?• Character Δ history?• Distribution in
geographic, ecological space?
• Δ distribution?• Informative, predictive
classification/names?
Need for reliable taxonomy information is urgent
•environmental sciences
•biodiversity conservation
•management natural products
•inform public policy
•evolutionary (historical) framework for biology
TAXONOMY
CL
ASS
IFICA
TIO
NS, N
AM
ES
Experimental Biology
Problem Solving
species
phylogeny
characters
ID’s
info
reference system
ID’s
Taxonomic services
• identifications
• reference system
• biodiversity language
• collections (vouchers)
Human & environmental welfare
• problem-solving
• resources
• security
• nature enjoyment
Basic biology• ecology & ecosystem science
• genetics & evolution
• developmental biology
• behavior & neurobiology
Applied biology• agriculture
• biomedicine
• conservation biology
• natural resource management
Biodiversity patterns Biodiversity processes
What are constraints?
Access:
•Existing species, names & literature
•Specimens & specimen data
•Instrumentation
•Colleagues
•Timely, complete, reliable information
E-monography:
modernize
improve efficiency
enable collaborative research
e-monographye-monography
Cyber facilitatedTaxonomic Expert
Network
CuratedCollections
CuratedVirtual
Monograph(Taxonomic
‘Knowledge Base’)
monographs
field guides
checklists
maps
morphological imagesand analyses
ID tools
user defined:
TAXONOMY CKC
Cyberinfrastructure-enabled Knowledge Community
High performance computing services
Data, info, knowledge
management services
Observation, measurement & fabrication
services
Interfaces, visualization
services
Collaborative services
Networking, Operating system, Middleware
Base technology: computation, storage, communication
= cyberinfrastructure (CI)
Cyber- infrastructure
Collections/specimen info
Species descriptions (=hypotheses)
Phylogeneticclassification
IDsapplied taxonomy
basic taxonomy
infrastructure
research & scholarship
Virtual Species Observatory (= Σcollections)
‘See’ Across all Scales: Geography | Ecosystems | Time
Known Species
Unknown Species
Specimens
Specimen-Data
ZooBank
Inventories (e.g.,PBIs)
Images, remote systems
Informatics (e.g., GBIF)
Literature
Phylogenetic Classifications
Nomenclature
Descriptions
Digital libraries
E-publications
Informatics (e.g., GBIF)
E-publications
ACCESS CONSTRAINTS: SOLUTIONS:
CI (cyber-infrastructure) will transform how we do, think about and use taxonomic information &
knowledge