TY - JOUR
T1 - Time to change how we describe biodiversity
AU - Deans, Andrew R.
AU - Yoder, Matthew J.
AU - Balhoff, James P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The ideas presented herein were developed during meetings funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF; grants DBI-0850223, DEB-0956049) and the Biodiversity Synthesis Center of the Encyclopedia of Life, and in rigorous conversation with participants of the Phenotype RCN ( http://www.phenotypercn.org ). We thank the NSF-funded National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (EF-0905606) for providing the support for synergistic interactions. JPB is supported by the Phenoscape project (NSF DBI-0641025 and DBI-1062542), whose members have significantly contributed to refining these ideas. Matt Bertone assisted with the artwork in Figure 1 . We are indebted to Katja Seltmann, István Mikó, and the anonymous reviewers, who provided invaluable critical feedback and insights that greatly improved the manuscript.
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - Taxonomists are arguably the most active annotators of the natural world, collecting and publishing millions of phenotype data annually through descriptions of new taxa. By formalizing these data, preferably as they are collected, taxonomists stand to contribute a data set with research potential that rivals or even surpasses genomics. Over a decade of electronic innovation and debate has initiated a revolution in the way that the biodiversity is described. Here, we opine that a new generation of semantically based digital scaffolding, presently in various stages of completeness, and a commitment by taxonomists and their colleagues to undertake this transformation, are required to complete the taxonomic revolution and critically broaden the relevance of its products.
AB - Taxonomists are arguably the most active annotators of the natural world, collecting and publishing millions of phenotype data annually through descriptions of new taxa. By formalizing these data, preferably as they are collected, taxonomists stand to contribute a data set with research potential that rivals or even surpasses genomics. Over a decade of electronic innovation and debate has initiated a revolution in the way that the biodiversity is described. Here, we opine that a new generation of semantically based digital scaffolding, presently in various stages of completeness, and a commitment by taxonomists and their colleagues to undertake this transformation, are required to complete the taxonomic revolution and critically broaden the relevance of its products.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855847709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84855847709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tree.2011.11.007
DO - 10.1016/j.tree.2011.11.007
M3 - Review article
C2 - 22189359
AN - SCOPUS:84855847709
SN - 0169-5347
VL - 27
SP - 78
EP - 84
JO - Trends in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Trends in Ecology and Evolution
IS - 2
ER -