Abstract: Public databases are a promising tool for collaborative taxonomy. A collaborative revision requires a number of decisions, which – unlike in individual work – need to be clarified in advance. The success of such initiatives depends on acceptable guidelines for possible-yet-unknown participants. The nature of morphological variation constrains the scope of this kind of taxonomy to a level of single genera or families. The database should contain information also on sub and infra-subspecific taxa in order to preserve their identity and retain full knowledge of morphological diversity. All information on morphological variation to be included in the open-access database needs to be subject to peer-review, e.g. in the form of species descriptions. We expect the Web-accessed morphological databases to centralize and unify scattered taxonomical efforts, to foster taxonomy of difficult taxa, to provide free identification aids, and to condense the publication-citation cycle in the notoriously undercited field of alpha taxonomy. Specific issues are illustrated by the case of the amphipod family Niphargidae.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/08/2009 11:50:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
