BACKGROUND: Taxonomy is the biological discipline that identifies, describes, classifies and names extant and extinct species and other taxa. Nowadays, species taxonomy is confronted with the challenge to fully incorporate new theory, methods and data from disciplines that study the origin, limits and evolution of species. RESULTS: Integrative taxonomy has been proposed as a framework to bring together these conceptual and methodological developments. Here we review perspectives for an integrative taxonomy that directly bear on what species are, how they can be discovered, and how much diversity is on Earth. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that taxonomy needs to be pluralistic to improve species discovery and description, and to develop novel protocols to produce the much-needed inventory of life in a reasonable time. To cope with the large number of candidate species revealed by molecular studies of eukaryotes, we propose a classification scheme for those units that will facilitate the subsequent assembly of data sets for the formal description of new species under the Linnaean system, and will ultimately integrate the activities of taxonomists and molecular biologists.
BACKGROUND: Taxonomy is the biological discipline that identifies, describes, classifies and names extant and extinct species and other taxa. Nowadays, species taxonomy is confronted with the challenge to fully incorporate new theory, methods and data from disciplines that study the origin, limits and evolution of species. RESULTS: Integrative taxonomy has been proposed as a framework to bring together these conceptual and methodological developments. Here we review perspectives for an integrative taxonomy that directly bear on what species are, how they can be discovered, and how much diversity is on Earth. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that taxonomy needs to be pluralistic to improve species discovery and description, and to develop novel protocols to produce the much-needed inventory of life in a reasonable time. To cope with the large number of candidate species revealed by molecular studies of eukaryotes, we propose a classification scheme for those units that will facilitate the subsequent assembly of data sets for the formal description of new species under the Linnaean system, and will ultimately integrate the activities of taxonomists and molecular biologists.
Authors: Ole Seehausen; Yohey Terai; Isabel S Magalhaes; Karen L Carleton; Hillary D J Mrosso; Ryutaro Miyagi; Inke van der Sluijs; Maria V Schneider; Martine E Maan; Hidenori Tachida; Hiroo Imai; Norihiro Okada Journal: Nature Date: 2008-10-02 Impact factor: 49.962
Authors: David Bickford; David J Lohman; Navjot S Sodhi; Peter K L Ng; Rudolf Meier; Kevin Winker; Krista K Ingram; Indraneil Das Journal: Trends Ecol Evol Date: 2006-11-28 Impact factor: 17.712
Authors: Antoine Fouquet; André Gilles; Miguel Vences; Christian Marty; Michel Blanc; Neil J Gemmell Journal: PLoS One Date: 2007-10-31 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Aurélien Miralles; Teddy Bruy; Katherine Wolcott; Mark D Scherz; Dominik Begerow; Bank Beszteri; Michael Bonkowski; Janine Felden; Birgit Gemeinholzer; Frank Glaw; Frank Oliver Glöckner; Oliver Hawlitschek; Ivaylo Kostadinov; Tim W Nattkemper; Christian Printzen; Jasmin Renz; Nataliya Rybalka; Marc Stadler; Tanja Weibulat; Thomas Wilke; Susanne S Renner; Miguel Vences Journal: Syst Biol Date: 2020-11-01 Impact factor: 15.683