The taxonomic impediment: A shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches

ENGEL, MICHAEL S; DELLAPÉ, PABLO M; REIS, ROBERTO E; AGARWAL, ISHAN; ALVAREZ, NADIR; ASCHER, JOHN S; BANDEIRA, SUZANA A; BENDIFALLAH, LEILA; BORKENT, ART; BYBEE, SETH M; CHRISTENHUSZ, MAARTEN J. M; DA COSTA, LUIS M; DEUVE, THIERRY; FAROOQ, HARITH; GONÇALVES, FRANCISCO M. P; HINOJOSA-DÍAZ, ISMAEL A; KAHONO, SIH; LYNCH, JOHN D; MARRIS, JOHN W. M; NIHEI, SILVIO S; ORRICO, VICTOR G. D; PARRINHA, DIOGO; CERÍACO, LUIS M. P; PESTANA, LUEJI B; LÖBL, IVAN; PROKOP, JAKUB; YOUNG, MARK T; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT; LEHMANN, PABLO A.; SAMPAIO, ÍRIS; ANDREONE, FRANCO; SANTOS, BRUNA S; BAÊTA, DÉLIO; STOEV, PAVEL; BARDEN, PHILLIP; DOS SANTOS, CARMEN VAN-DÚNEM; BOCKMANN, FLÁVIO A; VOGEL, GERNOT; BRANDÃO, CARLOS R. F; WARE, JESSICA L; CHANNING, ALAN; CRISCI, JORGE V; DAVIS, STEVEN R; FERNANDES ELIZALDE, SARA; FERGUSON, ADAM W; GONZALEZ, VICTOR H; INEICH, IVAN; KURY, ADRIANO B; MALÉCOT, VALÉRY; MCKELLAR, RYAN C; NISHIKAWA, KANTO; OTA, HIDETOSHI; PAUWELS, OLIVIER S. G; PINHEIRO, PAULO D. P; RASMUSSEN, CLAUS; RODRÍGUEZ, SARA M; S

ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2021 vol. 193 p. 381 - 387

0024-4082

For almost 30 years, there have been active discussions about the taxonomic impediment and the challenge this represents to address the current human-induced biodiversity crisis. Best practices in taxonomy are critical for addressing the current biodiversity crisis. Innovation is good, but it should improve on an existing situation rather than exacerbate difficulties or worse, revert to 18th- or 19th-century one-character (barcode or single gene) taxonomic approaches. Taxonomy needs to be rebranded to the scientific community as a modern, active and important discipline, and taxonomists need to come together to demand sufficient funding, training and employment for taxonomic researchers.