[Taxacom] Why Taxonomy does NOT matter

[John Grehan]

Of course this just shows the arbitrary nature of 'competitive' funding.
The criteria show that 'better' is just better in terms of the set
criteria. So if a revision hopes to address societal issues one
presumably better tackle a pest or some other direct human impact. 

This is not a complaint, just a recognition of reality.

John Grehan

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Schindel, David
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 11:01 AM
To: Fabian Haas; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Why Taxonomy does NOT matter

I went back to Fabian's original post.  There is an important
distinction that wasn't made.  Taxonomy matters, but that doesn't mean
that all taxonomic projects matter the same amount.  There were and
still are plenty of taxonomic projects that get funded.  The others
weren't denied funding because they were taxonomic projects.  They just
weren't the best proposals for taxonomic projects.

I was an NSF Program Director in Systematic Biology for three years.
There were many more taxonomic (and other) proposals than could be
funded so we always asked 'Why this study on this taxon and place rather
than the other ones?  What value added does it offer beyond species
description (which they all presumably did)?  Will it illuminate
evolutionary processes, assist in ecological studies, address societal
issues, produce information resources needed by others, generate
high-quality and accessible vouchers and databases, and have education
value for students or the general public?'  To get funded a proposal had
to score well on most of these criteria, not just being good taxonomy.



-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Fabian Haas
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 4:48 AM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: [Taxacom] Why Taxonomy does NOT matter

Dear Colleagues,

my apologies for the subject of this email, but I thing I have your 
attention. I am a taxonomist myself, and working a lot to make taxonomy 
matter on various plat forms, so no need to convince me about the 
importance of taxonomy.

What I am trying to find out i , why we seemingly have not succeeded in 
gathering more support for taxonomy in the last 10 yrs or so? Although 
we have high political support for the CBD, a variety of interesting 
projects, like EOL and GBIF, and many other plat forms distributing 
taxonomic information. These success have little contributed -in my 
opinion- to improve funding for the production of taxonomic knowledge.

Instead of lamenting again, and preaching to the converted, I would like

to find out, why the donors dont seem to react, what are their reasons 
not to fund taxonomic work, at all, or at a level would be useful. So I 
am looking for their reasons, why they dont seem to receive our message 
that we need to taxonomy. And also why taxonomic aspects are often 
deleted form projects when money becomes tight, more often than other 
section. Taxonomy seems expensible.

I do have some suspicions, like they dont know what it is, they simply 
dont like the topic, they think everything is known, they thing we dont 
need it anyways, its a public good and so available, taxonomy would be 
complete, etc.

I will certainly try to talk the donors informally to find out what they

think, but what I would like to ask this community, if you have any 
first hand experience, first hand statements on that. I will treat all 
information confidential if wished, and keep informant and, more 
importantly donor, anonymously. It is not about blaming someone, but I 
would like to better understand their perspective, with the ultimate 
goal to improve our communication strategy, and better address them. We 
did work a lot on our/taxonomist communication and I believe all the 
necessary answers are ready, collected by BioNET etc, but this change of

perspective -ask the listeners why they dont listen- seems worth wile to
me.

So Why does Taxonomy NOT matter??

Best & Looking forward to hearing from you!

  Fabian

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