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Discovery of 500 New Species, with Taxonomist’s Contributions Needed in Facing with the Global Warming
Since Linneaus (1758) named 4,162 species of living organism, 1.75 milion species have been described and named. It is less than 20% of the commonly accepted estimates of 10 million species on the planet earth. An average of 7,000 species per year was described during last 250 years, and, at this rate of species description, it will take another 1400 years to complete documentation of them. Who will do it? The real facing problem is the number of trained and practising taxonomists is declining worldwide at a time when demands for taxonomic science are increasing. A recent estimate suggests that the number of professional taxonomists worldwide is only 4,000-6,000 (Haas and Hauser, 2006). How about the situation is in Korea? In addition, the change of weather and the global warming accelerates more frequent invasion of harmful subtropical species, and taxonomist’s activity is needed more than ever. In shortly speaking, we are facing with a taxonomic “crisis” with erosion of taxonomy during last decades. The major reason is maybe that systematics has made little impact on the science with a narrow intellectual perspective, and most taxonomists have become accustomed to working on their speciality taxon without concern for relating their work to other broader environmental and societal issues in the facing with the global warming; e.g., invasive species, quarantine, use of bioresources, and ecosystem services. There is no question that taxonomy is the fundamental disciplines of biology, however, first of all, taxonomists should realize that how their research is related to other related sciences and how they make collaborative works. Especially, the basic taxonomic knowledge and skills generated by taxonomists is more needed to cope with the change of weather, due to the global warming which make critical change of the ecological structure in nature.
In the presentation, the strategy for innovation of the living organism on our planet, with a crisis of taxonomy, will be discussed, and emphasized how taxonomists serve and contribute to other related topics. In addition, author will introduce his acitivity for innovation works on Lepidoptera, representing more than 500 new species and 23 new genera of moths described worldwide during last 40 years of his taxonomic research. The total number of new species described in Korea by him is 104 species, including 57 species of Gelechiidae, and more than 400 species and 22 new genera in the subtropical region, including Thailand, Vietnam, and New Guinea. Will it be possible to exceed 500 insect species described worldwide by a taxonomist in future?
