Survey priority

[DR. JAMES ADAMS]

Bob,

        Nice post.  I really did not think that we were really as far apart
as it seemed.  However, I will point out that my most recent
"personal defense" was against your statement that *I* was
missing your point, not so much about the criticism of taxonomic
work in national parks!

> Unfortunately, in Tasmania just as in the world at large, there is
> always money and in-kind support available for biological
> inventory in national parks,  and no money whatsoever for
biodiversity salvage. The
> policy-level priorities (as opposed to the personal priorities of
> taxonomists) are wrong. They need changing, quickly.

        I don't disagree that the priorities need to be changed.
Biodiversity salvage is certainly something that needs to be done a
lot more than currently.  The problem is really not so much that
funds available are horribly misdirected so much as it is that there
is so *little* funding available *at all.*  I disagree that there is
"*always* money . . . available for biological inventory in national
parks".  Proposals still have to be submitted, and there is limited
funding at that.  I'll take it where I can get it, as little as it may be.
This does not mean that proposals to do work outside park
boundaries can't be submitted.  These have been made, and
approved some of the time, though it may be with less frequency
than within NP boundaries, or at the state level within SP
boundaries.  That's why it is even more important that the
taxonomists out there do what work they can do individually or with
support from others within their community.

 When we can get a majority of the worlds' govermental leaders to
agree with us, and get a lot of funding put into saving the planet's
biodiversity, then we might get somewhere.  Unfortunately, I don't
think its going to happen in my lifetime, or probably ever.  As long
as you have human's involved there will always be selfishness and
greed involved.  Try getting something done in this country to
change the priorities, with Big Business and a republican-controlled
government.  Even so, we still probably have more money than
most countries going into at least some biodiversity salvage.
Geez, such pessimism.  I try not to go here too often because its
simply too depressing.  I sure hope something will be left for my
son and his children.  Sigh.

        James




> Unfortunately, in Tasmania just as in the world at large, there is
> always money and in-kind support available for biological
> national parks,  and no money whatsoever for biodiversity
salvage. The
> policy-level priorities (as opposed to the personal priorities of
> taxonomists) are wrong. They need changing, quickly.
>
> At a political level, the priorities problem is complex and difficult,
> and as Adams points out, it's not very safe to work where the problems
> are worst. That shouldn't stop taxonomists as a community from trying
> however we can to push for more sampling where it's most needed.
>
> Parker's point about some taxa not being at risk in the broader sense
> is true, of course. Unfortunately, for a very large number of groups
> we simply have no idea what the global picture looks like, and we
> can't plan sampling on this basis.
>
> I also wonder whether the sampling, identification and curation
> protocols being developed for ATBI would be applicable to biodiversity
> salvage. They would almost certainly transfer to national parks
> elsewhere. How would they work where the time for sampling is very
> limited and the field conditions less comfortable? -- Dr Robert
> Mesibov Research Associate Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Home
> contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316 (03) 6437 1195;
> international 61 3 6437 1195



Dr. James K. Adams
Dept. of Natural Science and Math
Dalton State College
213 N. College Drive
Dalton, GA  30720
Phone: (706)272-4427; fax: (706)272-2533
http://www.daltonstate.edu/galeps/  (Georgia Lepidoptera)
U of Michigan's President James Angell's
  Secret of Success: "Grow antennae, not horns"