Taxonomists are becoming as rare as some of the species they work on, and this puts museum collections and conservation efforts under threat and increases the risk of biosecurity incursions.
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Articles on Taxonomy
Displaying 1 - 20 of 34 articles
Most animal groups adopted their shapes quickly but some kept evolving.
How can there be boom in new species discoveries while others are dying out at unprecedented rates?
India's hump-backed mahseer is one of the world's most prized game fish, yet it was a scientific enigma.
There is good news for plant conservation in South Africa and internationally.
Scientists have been naming species after well-known people since the 18th century, often in a bid for publicity. But the issue deserves attention – 400,000 Australian species are yet to be described.
Australian taxonomy resources number around 70 million specimens, valued at over AU$5 billion. That's big science.
Australia's herbaria are a priceless repository, holding around 8 million samples that map historical and current distributions of native and introduced plant species in Australia.
The latest research dismisses the idea that viruses form a fourth type of life.
The way humans see and engage with the natural world is anything but natural.
Four organisms that show nature isn't so easily categorised.
Humans have an innate interest and ability in naming biologically meaningful entities, or species. Taxonomy, then, vies for the title of world's “oldest profession”.
Many scientific names have changed since China's 'protected species list' was last updated in 1989.
You might worry that people care more about what's on their smartphone than what's in their local wildlife park. But what if we could get them to care about both at the same time?
Despite science refuting the existence of different human races, people have used "race" throughout history to divide and denigrate certain people while promoting their claims of superiority.
Forget the pith helmet and butterfly net. Discovering biodiversity now is much more about metagenomics and the 0's and 1's of digital databases.
Plants mentioned in ancient Chinese books helped inspire the latest Nobel Prize for Medicine winner, but testing old remedies isn't as simple as following the recipe.
The dead animal specimens that comprise natural history collections contribute a lot toward scientific understanding of their still-living counterparts – and those that have gone extinct.
The top 10 new species for 2015 include a crop-circling fish, a murderous wasp, and an animal that's got scientists confounded.
New technology to tackle biosecurity challenges down the track is one of the five megatrends identified in today’s CSIRO report Australia’s Biosecurity Future: preparing for future biological challenges…
Top contributors
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Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex
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Team Leader, Species Interactions, Atlas of Living Australia, UNSW
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Transect Ecologist, University of Adelaide
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Director of Food Innovation, University of Adelaide
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia
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Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
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Susan Lawler is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor, Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University
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Associate Professor and Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of New South Wales, UNSW
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Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide and Chief Botanist, State Herbarium of South Australia, University of Adelaide
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ARC Australian Laureate Professor, University of Tasmania
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Endeavour Research Fellow, Post-doctoral scholar, UNSW
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Beth Chapman is a Friend of The Conversation.
Executive Officer, National Collections & Marine Infrastructure, CSIRO
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Deputy Head of School (Nathan) Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University
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Senior lecturer/Reserch Fellow, Charles Darwin University
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Professor of Ecology, University of Western Australia
