Biodiversity distribution, taxonomy and systematics

The core topic for the knowledge of the state of biodiversity is the ability to identify and classify life forms, which requires the knowledge expertise of taxonomists.

The rapid decline of biodiversity worldwide, documented for a growing issue of taxonomic groups, prompted the creation by the UN of the agreement on Biological Diversity (CBD) in order to halt both this decline and the disappearance of ecosystem services linked to biodiversity.

The core topic for the knowledge of the state of biodiversity is the ability to identify and classify life forms (Taxonomy), which requires an expert knowledge difficult to obtain. The training of taxonomists is notoriously complex, as the procedures for characterizing most taxonomic groups require careful and time-consuming work . However, the need for taxonomists is even more urgent: many species are disappearing at an increasing rate without our even being able to record them. Services provided by biodiversity, such as pest control, the variety and security of the food supply, or the balance of resources, depend on a good knowledge of existing biodiversity and how it may change in the future. But if species cannot be known because the expert knowledge ("taxonomic impediment") is lost, it makes it extremely difficult to make a viable forecast of the fate of ecosystems and, indeed, to explore possible solutions.

At BIOMA there are expert researchers in taxonomy who develop the knowledge necessary to understand the composition and function of ecosystems, as well as the evolutionary processes within them. These experts have accumulated a long history of taxonomic discoveries, contributing several hundred new species to science, some of which can be used as indicators of environmental change.

Among the taxonomic groups for which BIOMA includes experts capable of describing species and distributions, with a considerable track record, we can list:

• Cryptogams

• Vascular plants

• Mushrooms

• Nematodes

• Marine worms

• Various orders of insects

• Apterigotas

• Arachnids

• Fish fauna

• Micromammals