[Taxacom] article on the decline of taxonomists

[Bob Mesibov]

This nicely written position paper is about 10 years old and refers to 20 previous years of complaining:

http://flyaqis.mov.vic.gov.au/chaec/taximp.html

Note the introductory comment "ASC invites comments and hopes that this paper is the beginning of a dialogue both within the systematics collections community and between it, policymakers, and users of biodiversity information."

And then there's 'The Disappearance' by the botanist Duane Isely (1918-2000), published in 1972 in Taxon [21(1): 3-12. I have a low-quality PDF for anyone interested.] It's a dream-fantasy about a world in which all taxonomists suddenly vanished. Have any of Isely's imagined consequences emerged yet, given the ongoing decline in taxonomic expertise?
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
03 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/?articleID=570