Meeting Abstract
One of the greatest current threats to the study of biodiversity is the loss of taxonomic expertise. As the number of experts declines, it becomes increasingly difficult to train the next generation of taxonomists as well as to disseminate knowledge of the basic methods required to study poorly known taxa. One of the greatest challenges in learning the taxonomy of invertebrates and macroalgae is learning the complex vocabularies used to describe their morphologies. This task is complicated by the fact that documentation of the world’s biodiversity is an international endeavour. English-speaking taxonomists often have difficulty understanding original species descriptions from the classical literature, which was often published in other languages. Modern taxonomists are more often based in non-English speaking countries and yet the modern literature is almost entirely in English. As a first step to confront these challenges, we have developed an illustrated multilingual glossary using the Symbiota Software Project’s biodiversity platform for use as a translation tool for technical terms in taxonomy and systematics. The glossary has been seeded with terms and illustrations from macroalgae, tunicates, sponges, hydrozoans, anemones and nemerteans. Translations into 10 languages are underway. This poster presentation will demonstrate how SICB participants and their colleagues can contribute to this project.
