[NHCOLL-L:5197] Re: :

[Furth, David]

We systematists have recognized this "extinction" for decades, but we have been preaching to the choir.  Now with all the lab-oriented (indoor) systematics students are being taught by those who practically do not know the organisms in nature, some don't seem to want to either.  Most systematists are impassioned by being in the field, i.e. really ecologists too, and working with collections. After all, some of the most famous ecologists started as taxonomists, e.g., G. Evelyn Hutchinson, Sir Richard Southwood, etc.

Hopefully some future generation will realize that they need to start over with taxonomy/systematics of whole organisms that they really want/need to know in nature; however, due to the "extinction" and the current continuing decline/loss of true natural history science it will be an expense re-start.

******************************************************
David G. Furth, Ph.D.
Department of Entomology
MRC 165, P.O. Box 37012
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D. C. 20013-7012  USA
Phone: 202-633-0990
Fax: 202-786-2894
Email: furthd at si.edu<mailto:furthd at si.edu>
Website: www.entomology.si.edu<http://www.entomology.si.edu>

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 3:26 PM
To: JPRICE at mus-nature.ca
Cc: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5190] Re: :

systematists are not dying out half as fast as those who study the natural history of the species.
There are NSF grant programs to fund systematics and programs to fund specifically the training of systematists.
Currently, there are NO programs to fund natural history nor to fund training natural historians.

Naming an organism without describing its life history is sort of like reading the title of a book and never opening it.
I suppose some students would not get that metaphor! :)
IF you don't know any of its life history its pretty darn difficult to implement meaningful conservation strategies.

Malcolm McCallum

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Judith Price <JPRICE at mus-nature.ca<mailto:JPRICE at mus-nature.ca>> wrote:
Interesting post on Wired Science: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/extinction-of-taxonomists/#<http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/extinction-of-taxonomists/>


"We are currently in a biodiversity crisis. A quarter of all mammals face extinction, and 90 percent of the largest ocean fish are gone. Species are going extinct at rates equaled only five times in the history of life. But the biodiversity crisis we are currently encountering isn't just a loss of species, it's also a loss of knowledge regarding them.

"Scientists who classify, describe and examine the relationships between organisms are themselves going extinct. The millions of dollars spent globally on technology to catalog species may actually be pushing out the people we rely upon: taxonomists and systematists. We're like young children frantic to add new baseball cards to our collections, while the actual creators of the baseball cards themselves are vanishing."

Judith
Judith C. Price
Secretary, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Assistant Collections Manager, Invertebrates / Gestionnaire adjointe des collections invertébrés
Canadian Museum of Nature / Musée canadien de la Nature
PO Box 3443 Station D / CP 3443 Succ <<D>>
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4 CANADA

Tel.613.566.4263 / Fax.613.364.4027

jprice at mus-nature.ca<mailto:jprice at mus-nature.ca>

@nature_jcp
www.nature.ca<http://www.nature.ca/> / www.spnhc.org<http://www.spnhc.org/>










--
Malcolm L. McCallum
Managing Editor,
Herpetological Conservation and Biology

"Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation

1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea"  W.S. Gilbert
1990's:  Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss,
            and pollution.
2000:  Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction
          MAY help restore populations.
2022: Soylent Green is People!

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any
attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may
contain confidential and privileged information.  Any unauthorized
review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.  If you are not
the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and
destroy all copies of the original message.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/nhcoll-l/attachments/20110123/deb5177e/attachment.html