Abstracts, XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy) , 9-15

XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy), 9-15 September 2013
The use of available collection data for taxonomy and systematics
KNAPP S.
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom. E-mail: s.knapp@nhm.ac.uk
Collection data form the basis for all hypotheses in taxonomy (and its synonym systematics).
Collections are the evidence upon which scientists base hypotheses of species circumscription, species
distribution, phylogenetic relatedness and conservation threat. But what are collections? How useful
are the specimens we hold in our cabinets in today’s world or e-interconnection and mass data analysis,
particularly of molecular data? The commonly held view in our own community is that collections
are critical for the rest of the biological enterprise, as is the work of taxonomists. But what kinds of
collections do we need to do 21 st century taxonomy? I will explore some alternatives to traditional collections,
and both problems in the integration of new and old collections for taxonomy and systematics
and the meaning of available – just what does it mean to be available? Licensing and re-use of data
is fast becoming an issue for both institutions and individuals – how available do things need to be to
be scientifically useful? I will argue that indeed, collections are critical, but that we might need to
rethink just what they really are.
65