Publisher : Bulletin of Marine Science
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2001
Thematic : Coral Reef
Language : English
Note
Despite universal recognition of coral reefs as the ‘ocean’s rainforest,’ the focus of
conservation is largely restricted to cnidarians, fish, larger sponges, and macroalgae.
These span a wide taxonomic range and can be monitored non-invasively. But a biodiversity
picture based on so few taxa is dismally incomplete. As in the rainforest, the overwhelming
majority of species and clades on the reef are cryptic. Worms, mollusks, echinoderms,
and crustaceans are numerically dominant, contribute to the trophic underpinning,
and play pivotal ecological roles. Other than a few charismatic species (e.g., starfish,
tube worms, conchs), they are underestimated and overassumed. Proper inventory
of such taxa requires factors not routinely employed in conservation: physical sampling
and systematic expertise. Yet scientifically robust results can be achieved with minimal
damage and investment, and lead to recognition of key species, for which monitoring
schemes can be developed. Examples of recent surveys by systematists are provided,
involving echinoderms, mollusks, crustaceans, and worms from a variety of marine habitats,
and each showing significant results. Despite this evidence of success, acquiring
systematic expertise for inventorying marine invertebrates continues to be a limiting factor.
After decades of de-emphasizing systematics, the cohort of trained systematists is
aging and facing non-replacement, even in museums where extensive specimen collections,
laboratories, and libraries provide the best available support for systematic work.
In today’s climate of biodiversity interest, new initiatives are attempting to reverse this
trend. National Science Foundation’s PEET [Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in
Taxonomy] Program is providing resources for training the next generation of taxonomists
working on poorly known groups. At the international level, initiatives such as
DIVERSITAS’ Systematics Agenda 2000 International Program are supporting new agendas
to document reef biodiversity and promote systematic inventory. The Convention on
Biological Diversity is calling for more systematic inventories to facilitate their goals of
conservation and sustainable development. Programmatic and financial support for inventories
by national, regional, and local conservation and monitoring agencies are the
next requirement.
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Keywords : endemism
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
