Journal article
Algal Taxonomy: A Road to Nowhere?
O De Clerck, MD Guiry, F Leliaert, Y Samyn, H Verbruggen
Journal of Phycology | WILEY | Published : 2013
DOI: 10.1111/jpy.12020
Abstract
The widespread view of taxonomy as an essentially retrogressive and outmoded science unable to cope with the current biodiversity crisis stimulated us to analyze the current status of cataloguing global algal diversity. Contrary to this largely pessimistic belief, species description rates of algae through time and trends in the number of active taxonomists, as revealed by the web resource AlgaeBase, show a much more positive picture. More species than ever before are being described by a large community of algal taxonomists. The lack of any decline in the rate at which new species and genera are described, however, is indicative of the large proportion of undiscovered diversity and bears he..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Ward Appeltans, Wendy and Caoilte Guiry, Paul Kirk, Lennert Tyberghein, Bart Vanhoorne, and Pieter Vanormelingen for assistance, valuable information, and useful discussions. Likewise, we are grateful to Richard Moe and Paul Silva for the INA resource which was critical to provide description dates for taxa of uncertain status. AlgaeBase was funded by the Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions (PRTLI 2, 3 and 4 to the Ryan Institute and the Environmental Change Institute) funded by the Department of Education and Science in Ireland, by Atlantic Philanthropies, and by the European Union. HV is funded by the Australian Research Council (FT110100585). FL is indebted to the FWO-Vlaanderen for a grant as postdoctoral researcher. Many thanks to Craig Schneider and an anonymous, but enthusiastic referee for their reviews.