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ISSN 1958-5152Newsletter #22August 2010http://www.e-taxonomy.euNews......................................... 1Welcome & GoodbyeEDIT Integrating Research GrantsTerms Used in BionomenclatureRecent NewsForthcoming events................SANBI-NCBGFOE 2010Marine Macrofauna of SwedenToward an e-Flora Platform103 rd meeting of German Zool. Soc.Botanical Diversity3rd meeting on Scientific PublishingTools for identifying BiodiversityBiosystematics 2011Focus........................................ 7EDIT Taxonomy Success Story 5 :Involving Teenagers in BiodiversityArticles..................................... 9Was Darwin Somewhat Mistaken?Book Review: Biodiversity and Mankind5EDIT - MNHN - CP 43 - 57, rue Cuvier 75231 Paris cedex 05 Tel (33) (0)1 40 79 53 86 Fax (33) (0)1 40 79 53 99

NEWSGoodbye & WelcomeDear reader, since the June issue,the EDIT Newsletter has changedits editor. Gaël Lancelot has movedon to a new position at the French NationalResearch Agency (Agence Nationale de laRecherche) after almost two years of gatheringand publishing news on meetings, workshopsand projects taking place within the network ofEDIT partner institutions, as well as informationon other projects related to EDIT and issuesof general interest to taxonomists. Tasks GaëlLancelot performed to perfection, well suited ashe is with an educational background as MScin taxonomy and evolution, a PhD in history ofscience and a professional career working asscientific resource manager for BioCASE andGBIF.At EDIT we are sad to see Gaël leave, hehas been a central figure taking care of bothexternal and internal communication in a verypolite and sympathetic, yet straight forwardand effective way. We therefore wish himthe best of luck in his new position and feelconfident that he will perform just as well forthe Agence Nationale de la Recherche as he didfor EDIT.Replacing Gaël is yours truly Jesper BirkedalSchmidt. I have formerly worked as scientificmanager for work package 2 EDIT partnernumber 3, based at the Natural History Museumof Denmark, University of Copenhagen. I am atrained biologist with an MSc in taxonomy andsystematics.I do not plan to change the face of thenewsletter, but will instead continue its currentlayout. The newsletter is well integrated inEDIT’s communicational routine and wellknown to our stakeholders. Furthermore, asthe EDIT contract with European Commisionends soon, there seems to be no point in fixinga new shape before the follow-up consortiumand activities are settled.I hope you will enjoy the current andforthcoming issues of the EDIT Newsletter,keeping you informed about EDIT workshopsand meetings, recent news from stakeholdersand sister projects as well as articles coveringnews from the EDIT partner institutionalactivities and topics of general interest fortaxonomists.Gaël LancelotJesper B. SchmidtNewsletter (European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy)Publisher: the European Distributed Institute of TaxonomyPublication Director: Mr. Bertrand-Pierre GaleyISSN: 1958-5152EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 20101

NEWSEDIT Integrating Research Grants- 2010 AwardsEDIT’s IntegratingResearch Grantsis implementedto encourage increasedcollaboration betweentaxonomic researchers. Inparticular, EDIT wants todevelop collaborative descriptive/revisionarytaxonomy, which is in specific need of support.The third call for applications to theIntegrating Research Grants was announcedon April 21st 2010. In total 23 applicationswere received by the deadline (May 17, 2010).We are happy to publish below the list of sixsuccessful applicants, who were awarded thisyear’s grants.For more information on the IRG please visit:http://www.e-taxonomy.eu/irgSubjectPrincipalInvestigatorNumber ofinstitutionsInstitutionsAmount(€)Revision of the Russulasect. Xerampelinae(Fungy, Basidiomycota)based on morphologicaland molecularcriteriaOld World, New WorldTanthoidea: a synthesisTaxonomy andphylogeny of theAmeiridae: a model forstudying oligomerizationand the transition frommarine to freshwaterhabitatsGeneric review ofthe velvet spiders(araneae: Eresidae) witha taxonomic revisionof the African GenusGandanamenoTen species in one: thehidden biodiversity ofEuropean mossesBuyck, Bart 4 Muséum Nationald’Histoire Naturelle (#2)Clark, Paul 5 Natural Historymuseum, London (#10)Huys, Rony 4 Natural Historymuseum, London (#10)Miller, Jeremy 4 NationaalNatuurhistorischMuseum – Naturalis(#7)Stech, Michael 5 Nationaal HerbariumNederland (#6)1420019815188621997014950Revising South-EastAsian MyrsinaceaeUtteridge,Timothy5 Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew (#11)106692EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 2010

NEWSUpdated Edition of Terms Used inBionomenclatureGBIF’s Informatics would like toannounce the publication of anupdated edition of Terms Used inBionomenclature, compiled by Prof. DavidHawksworth. This is a glossary of over 2100terms used in biological nomenclature - thenaming of whole organisms of all kinds.The glossary is available in print-ready PDFformat as well as via an online web applicationthat can be browsed, searched, and output inHTML, JSON and RDF to support re-use andreferencing.GBIF is also producing a limited numberof paper copies of the glossary which will beavailable at GBIF-supported meetings andevents. The web application supports thedevelopment of controlled vocabularies usingresolvable identifiers for nomenclatural terms.More information at:http://www.gbif.org/communications/resources/print-and-online-resources/bionomenclature/The web application is online at:http://bionomenclature-glossary.gbif.org/EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 20103

NEWSRecent NewsWhat is taxonomy:BioNET slide presentationBioNET slide presentation "Understandingthe world around you!" A collaborative effortfor the 2010 International Year of Biodiversityintroducing taxonomy to lay audiences,describing it's practice, uses and benefits forbiodiversity conservation and society.More information at:http://www.bionet-intl.org/opencms/opencms/index1.jspBISE (BiodiversityInformation System forEurope) is a new websitecentralising informationabout biodiversity in Europe.BISE is a partnershipbetween the European Commission (DGEnvironment, Joint Research Centre, Eurostat)and the European Environment Agency (EEA).More information at:http://biodiversity.europa.eu/EOL accepting applicationsfor 2011 Rubenstein FellowsThis international program supportbiodiversity research by graduate studentsand early career scientists. It provides partialsupport for up to one year to translatebiodiversity research and databases into onlineresources available through EoL.Applications deadline 15 Sep., 2010.More information at:http://www.eol.org/content/page/fellowsWhat is biodiversity:ONE stories from EEAThe 'Our Natural Europe' or 'ONE' stories arebeing developed by the European EnviromentAgency and its Eionet partners to illustrate ineveryday language what biodiversity is andhow we’re connected to it.More information at:http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/one-finlandYam, Slug, Fish and SpiderFour EDIT partner institutionshave contributed to the Top 10New Species - 2010, a listannounced by the InternationalInstitute for Species Exploration(IISE) of spectacular organisms described in2009We would therefore like to congratulateAnnette Hladik and Claude Marcel Hladik ofthe Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle(partner #2) and Paul Wilkin and Odile Weberof the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (partner#11) for the Udderly Weird Yam (Dioscoreaorangeana Wilkin), the Zoological Museum,Universiteit Van Amsterdam (partner #5) whostores three paratypes of the bug-eating slugAiteng ater Swennen and Buatip, 2009, RalfBritz and Lukas Rüber of the Natural HistoryMuseum, London (partner #10) for the FangedFish Danionella dracula Britz et al., 2009 andMatjaž Kuntner and Jonathan A. Coddingtonof the National Museum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution (partner #27) for theüber orb-weaver Nephila komaci Kuntner andCoddington, 2009.More information at:http://species.asu.edu/Top104EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 2010

FORTHCOMING EVENTSSANBI - NCB InternationalWorkshop23-27 Aug, 2010, Cape TownSANBI and The Netherlands Centre forBiodiversity Naturalis arranges an internationalworkshop on the topic of «Using botanicaldiversity patterns to quantify current andfuture values of ecosystem services thatsupport human well-being in South Africa»The workshop is organized as part of theNWO WOTRO full application procedure.For additional information please contact:Shanelle Ribeiro (S.Ribeiro@sanbi.org.za)Niels Raes (raes@nhn.leidenuniv.nl)GFOE 40th Anniversary Meeting2010: The Future of Biodiversity- Genes, Species, Ecosystem30 Aug.- 3 Sep., 2010, GiessenThe next conference of the German Societyfor Ecology will be held at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen.Focus of this year’s meeting is The Futureof Biodiversity - Genes, Species, Ecosystems.It will be relating to the following themes:(1) Learning from the past; (2) Uderstandingtoday’s world; (3) Exploring the future; (4)Applied biodiversity ;(5) Open topics.The organizers are looking forward to seeparticipants joining for discussions on thescientific knowledge of biodiversity.More information at:http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/gfoe2010/First international workshopon the Marine Macrofauna ofSweden8–17, Sep., 2010, TjärnöA workshop aiming at students interested inthe systematics, taxonomy and morphology ofmarine invertebrates. It will provide anexcellent opportunity to meet experts onseveral of the major phyla.More information at:http://www.e-taxonomy.eufilesWorkshop_Tsjarno_2010.pdfEDIT International Workshop«Toward an e-Flora Platform»14-15 Sep., 2010, Brussels.At EDIT we are happy topresent this initiative of integrationbetween The National BotanicGarden of Belgium and theNetherlands Centre for BiodiversityNaturalis (section NHN), who are pleased toinvite you to the Edit International Workshop`Toward an e-Flora Platform´For additional information please contact:Thomas Janssen (thomas.janssen@br.fgov.be)Soraya Sierra (sierra@nhn.leidenuniv.nl)103rd annual meeting of theGerman Zoological Society17-20 Sep., 2010, HamburgThe Zoological Institute of the University ofHamburg host this year’s meeting.Focus will be on the themes: (1) The originof biodiversity in the light of speciation andhybridisation; (2) The role of physiologicaladaptations and phenotypic plasticity; (3) Theinteractions between animals and plants.More information at:http://www.dzg2010.de/EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 20105

PPP Lösung für zweite GotthardröhreB,S,S.ZusammenfassungAuftragDer im Jahr 1980 in Betrieb genommene Gotthard-Strassentunnel muss saniertwerden. Die Sanierung verursacht längere Sperrungen des Tunnels. Eine Alternativeist, vor der Sanierung einen zweiten Tunnel zu bauen, der dann während derSanierungsphase des ersten Tunnels den Verkehr aufnehmen kann. Danach stündenzwei Tunnel zur Verfügung, die in Übereinstimmung mit der Bundesverfassungjeweils im einspurigen Richtungsverkehr genutzt werden können. Der zweiteTunnel erhöht die Sicherheit, würde das derzeit bestehende Tropfenzählersystemam Gotthard obsolet machen und zudem die Verkehrsbeeinträchtigungen bei Pannen,Unfällen und künftigen Instandhaltungsarbeiten deutlich reduzieren.Im vorliegenden Bericht wird die Frage geprüft, ob und unter welchen Rahmenbedingungenein zweiter Strassentunnel am Gotthard durch Private in einer PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) finanziert, gebaut, betrieben und unterhalten werdenkönnte. Die Studie geht davon aus, dass eine private Gesellschaft· den zweiten Tunnel finanzieren und bauen,· die Sanierung des ersten Tunnels finanzieren und durchführen· und schlussendlich beide Tunnel betreiben und unterhalten würde.Die Studie beschränkt sich auf die Überprüfung der Machbarkeit einer PPP Lösungaus technischer und ökonomischer Sicht. Die Beurteilung der politischen Diskussionist nicht Teil des Mandats. Ausgewählte rechtliche Aspekte des PPP Projektesam Gotthard werden kurz dargestellt, jedoch keiner eigentlichen juristischen Beurteilungunterzogen.MethodikDer Bericht zeigt einerseits auf, durch welche technischen, vertraglichen und institutionellenLösungen PPP am Gotthard möglich wäre. Teilweise wird dabei Bezuggenommen auf vergleichbare Projekte im Ausland. Im Hinblick auf die finanzielleMachbarkeit beinhaltet der Bericht eine Modellierung von drei Varianten. AlleVarianten gehen von einer Vertragslaufzeit von 50 Jahren aus und sehen zur Wahrungder in den bilateralen Verträgen festgeschriebenen Mautobergrenzen für denSchwerverkehr eine Schattenmaut für LKWs vor. Die Varianten zeichnen sichdurch folgende differenzierende Charakteristika aus:6

FOCUSto pick up the litter themselves; they prefersanctions and education around the topic. Thepupils exchanged views about their needs aswell, and noticed that a good meeting point forteenagers to enjoy nature was missing.During visits at the Miramare marinereserve, the pupils were able to learn aboutand to see many different marine species (seepicture). They were also informed about theongoing research.One group of pupils within CLANFA decidedfor the pragmatic approach of actually pickingup the litter themselves (see picture). Thetreatment of litter from the official side wasanother concern. The pupils decided to analysethe frequency and efficiency of the official litterpick up with the Geographic Information System(see picture). The results will be presented toall schools of Trieste during the final exhibitionwhich will be held at the headquarters ofthe Coast Guard in the harbour of Trieste inSeptember 2010.The head of the education programme ofthe reserve, Dr. Milena Tempesta concludesthat the approach of giving much freedom, butscientific guidance to the pupils was successful.The teenagers appreciated particularly tohave been asked about their opinion andto be listened to. Since the pupils had manygood ideas for rather long termed projects,the Miramare marine reserve will continuethis activity. Several WWF partners in otherEuropean countries will now introduce similarprojects, based on the same approach, butadapted to the biodiversity and threats of theirregion.More information about the Marine MPAunder http://www.riservamarinamiramare.it/8EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 2010

ARTICLESRudy Jocqué (RMCA)Was Darwin somewhat mistaken?- Taxonomists have the floorDarwin (1859) accumulated animpressive amount of argumentsto support his theory on evolution.The quantity of data that has since beenadded to corroborate it, is overwhelming.It is therefore all the more surprising thatDarwin (1871) himself made an importantexception to his rules: sexual selection. Andsince no doubt could be cast on his genius,scores of scientists have wriggled to supportthe idea that is supposed to be often in clearcontrast with the principles of natural selectionitself. What is most remarkable is that themechanism of evolution by natural selectioncan be summarized in a few sentences whereasit needs pages to explain sexual selection.Reviews on sexual selection (e.g. Hosken &Stockley, 2004) are characterized by the manyincongruities among the data they summarizeand the confuse picture that results fromthem. Could it be that most of the researchin this field, focuses on the wrong targets andthat sexual selection is the side-effect of anunderlying phenomenon which has escapedattention? Or in other words, could it be thatwhat is called “sexual selection“ is simply amechanism that falls within the range of naturalselection? This would be in great contrast withthe many studies claiming that sexual selectionis a source of speciation in itself, independentfrom the ecological background in which itoccurs. This conflict of ideas is often by-passed.In the review referred to above, the conflict ismentioned in the acknowledgments!Since the field is dominated by ecologistsstudying one or a few species, the huge rangeof variation in the secondary sexual charactersof some animal groups with stable somaticmorphology, is hardly taken into account.The phenomenon is demonstrated in manytaxonomic studies: e.g. genitalia of Dytiscidae,beetles (Jäch, 1993), Amaurobiidae, spiders(Wang, 2003), secondary se xual charactersin Erigoninae, spiders (Wiehle, 1960), sexualdimorphism in colour patterns of Cichlidae(Snoeks, 2004). But precisely the gradual rangeof complexity of genitalia or other secondarysexual characters, may help to understand thereasons for sexual selection or the underlyingmechanism.Fig. 1. Example of spectacular increase in thecomplexity of the aedeagus in nine species of thewater beetle genus Limnebius with somatically stablerepresentatives. Shown are the extremes at both endsof a long series comprising 82 species (after Jäch,1993).EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 20109

ARTICLESIn recent studies the importance of theecological background apparently begins todawn (see review by Cornwallis & Uller, 2010)and new hypotheses emerge. As a result of along term study on the cichlids of Lake Victoria,Seehausen (2009) for instance, recognizesthat male colour patterns might be markers forvariation in traits related to resource utilization,but eventually gives way to one of the classicsexual selection models known as “sensorydrive speciation”.However, the probability that there is agenetic link between behavioral patterns (ofresource utilization) and secondary sexualcharacters, prepares for a landslide in thetheories about sexual selection and would atthe same time refute Darwin’s (1871) ideaabout the phenomenon. It opens a completelynew set of possibilities to explain a range ofphenomena mainly observed by taxonomists:why do species with apparently identicalsomatic morphology have highly diversegenitalia ranging from very simple to verycomplex? Why are some groups of animalsprone to radiation and others not? Why dosmaller animals radiate more easily than largeones and why do the tiniest animals tend tohave the most complex secondary sexualcharacters? Why does speciation occur in sinksrather than in sources?The core of this new set of ideas inevitablyleads to the insight that there is a correlationbetween ecological specialization andcomplexity of secondary sexual characters.If they are corroborated, these ideas willdoubtlessly have far reaching consequences,but it is hard to fathom at this stage how deepthey will reach.ReferencesCornwallis C.K. & Uller T. 2010. Towards an evolutionary ecologyof sexual traits. Trends Ecol. Evol. 25: 145-152.Darwin, C. 1859. On the origin of species by means of naturalselection. John Murray, London.Darwin, C. 1871. The descent of man, and selection in relation tosex. John Murray, London.Hosken D.J. and Stockley P. (2004) Sexual selection and genitalevolution. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19: 87-93Jäch, M.A. 1993.Taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic species ofthe genus Limnebius Leach, 1815 (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae).Koleopterol. Rundsch.63: 99-187.Seehausen, O. 2009. Progressive levels of trait divergence along aspeciation transect in the Lake Victoria fish Pundamilia, In Butlin,RK, J Bridle, and D Schluter (eds) Speciation and Patterns ofDiversity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 155-176.Snoeks, J. 2004. The cichlid diversity of Lake Malawi/Nyasa:identification, distribution and taxonomy. Cichlid Press.Wang, X. P. 2003. Species revision of the coelotine spidergenera Bifidocoelotes, Coronilla, Draconarius, Femoracoelotes,Leptocoelotes, Longicoelotes, Platocoelotes, Spiricoelotes,Tegecoelotes, and Tonsilla (Araneae: Amaurobiidae). Proc. Calif.Acad. Sci. 54: 499-662.Wiehle, H. 1960. Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae). XI.Micryphantidae-Zwergspinnen. Tierwelt Deutschlands 47: 1-620.Fig. 2. Examples of complexity increase in male palps,the copulatory organs of spiders. Examples of extremesin large groups of somatically similar species: Coelotes(after Wang, 20 03) and Diores (own observations).Arrows show direction of increase.10EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 2010

ARTICLESDr. Martin SharmanBook Review: Biodiversityand MankindFragile Web: what next for nature?Silvertown J. (Ed.) (2010) Natural HistoryMuseum, London, in association with the OpenUniversityThe biggest challenge that humanityhas ever faced, according to theintroduction to Fragile Web, is to find away for humans to prosper without endangeringbiodiversity. Not only is biodiversity beautifuland useful, not only is its destruction morallyquestionable, but human survival depends onproper stewardship of the life on our planet.This book develops these points, knittingtogether the threads that link humans withthe rest of the living world, and placing us andthe life around us in a historical, scientific andsociological context.The first thing that strikes the reader is thequality of production and of illustration. Everypage is illuminated by well-chosen graphs,drawings, paintings or photographs, some ofwhich are works of art in their own right. Butas one delves into the text, it becomes quicklyclear that this is not, as it claims to be, thebiodiversity book for everybody.This is not a book a policy-maker mightread on the way to a meeting on biodiversitygovernance. Nor would you curl up on thesofa to read it unless you were seriouslyinterested in learning more about biodiversityand the importance to humans of its loss. Thisis a book written by scientists and sciencecommunicators for students of the context,evidence and consequences of the loss ofbiodiversity. And as a textbook, it does its jobprofessionally and with competence.Fragile Web is well-structured andintelligent, and asks (almost!) all the rightquestions. Not only is it instructive, withevery page introducing new and interestinginformation, but in many thoughtful passagesit encourages readers to draw their ownconclusions, thus educating while it informs.The generally excellent captions allow thereader to understand the significance of theillustrations independently of the main text.The chapters follow each other easily, with aclever linking sentence at the end of each todraw the reader on to the next topic.The attractive first contact is somewhatmitigated by the evident multi-authorship,with some chapters written in a style thatis accessible and informative, and otherssomewhat dense and less engaging.Unfortunately, the first of these rather fact-EDIT Newsletter #22 - August 201011