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Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 70, No. 11,
pp. 2145, 1998
A virtual catalogue of invertebrate life on
Earth*
Ian Oliver
Key Centre for Biodiversity and Bioresources, School of Biological
Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109 Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: In signing the Convention on Biological Diversity,
more than 160 countries pledged to produce inventories of their
biodiversity - workable catalogues of the variety of life. Some
countries have already passed legislation to include this biological
information in land-use planning processes. Invertebrate diversity
remains largely unknown despite their presence in all habitats and
critical role in the maintenance of ecosystem health and ultimately,
human well-being. Recent estimates suggest that there may be as
many as 30 million species of arthropods alone, yet taxonomists
have formally identified less than one million. Consequently, species
inventories that document the numbers and identities of invertebrates
in space and time are difficult to produce and the catalogue of
the Earths invertebrate biodiversity is very incomplete.
New and exciting methodological and technological
solutions to this global problem are now emerging, for example:
the use of local non-specialist taxonomic workers to increase rates
of specimen collection and processing; morphospecies in place of
formal species names (Latin binomials) and the most recent of bioinformatics
technologies. The use of bioinformatics (application of information
technology to the solution of biological problems) includes: the
addition of unique micro-barcodes to samples and specimens to remove
the need for hand written labels and increase the speed of data
entry and retrieval; and sophisticated biodiversity database management
systems for the capture, storage, manipulation and retrieval of
biodiversity data. These data may include taxonomic and ecological
information or digital images of species which can be used as virtual
voucher specimens in the process of sorting and identification.
This paper discusses these recent advances and explores the potential
of bioinformatics to provide a digital image database or virtual
catalogue of the Earth's invertebrate biodiversity.
Download full text (9 pages)
- PDF file (40KB)
* Invited lecture presented at the International
Conference on Bioversity and Bioresources: Conservation and
Utilization, 23-37 November 1997, Phuket, Thailand.
Page last modified 14 April 1999.
Copyright ©1997, 98, 99 International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry.
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