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i.
What is systematics?
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Systematic biology in the UK
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iii. The national
strategy
 Since
1996, the Forum has built on the improved communication within the discipline
by developing the national strategy for systematic biology that is presented
in this report. Beyond the potential identified by the Lords Select
Committee to improve effectiveness through greater co- operation, there
are other reasons why a national strategic approach for systematics
is needed at this time:
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Major
scientific developments are taking place in systematics. For example,
access to molecular data and new analytical methods are improving
our ability to uncover evolutionary relationships between organisms.
Interdisciplinary research between systematics and fields such as
ecology, geology and hydrology is improving our understanding of the
role that species play in environmental processes.
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- There is unprecedented
demand for information about life on Earth, be it for national governments
or schoolchildren, and growing recognition of the role that systematics
must play in providing it.
- Developments
in information technology are opening up a new world in which this
information can be accessed at the press of a button, but the investment
costs are high.
- The funding pattern
for UK systematics is changing, as more research is funded by grants
and charitable donations and direct public funding to institutions
declines.
This strategy sets
out priorities for the direction and nature of systematic research,
training and information provision to be undertaken in the UK. A strength
of the strategy is that it has been developed through consultation that
has involved systematists themselves, users of systematics (figure
7) and leaders of the key institutions. It aims to ensure that:
- Systematic research
addresses areas of high scientific interest.
- The UK systematics
community is better placed to work with industry, conservation bodies,
government agencies and others in tackling issues of concern to society.
- The results of
systematics research are accessible to its users.
- Effort is focused
on the education and training of systematists to address a potential
UK shortage of expertise in the near future.
- The UK will play
a leading role in the co- operative development of systematics in
Europe and globally.
- UK systematics
institutions will work more effectively through greater co- operation.
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Figure
7 What
do users of systematic biology need in the future ?
One of the
key principles in developing the priorities for UK systematics
has been the need to address the needs of the users of this research.
Identifying the implications of this is no simple task, because
the many products of systematic biology serve a multitude of user
groups across numerous sectors (figures 1 and 5). To help in this,
the UK Systematics Forum commissioned a market research group,
Creative Research, to carry out a qualitative survey of user needs
for systematic biology research.
Early in 1997,
30 key people from a variety of sectors including research, conservation,
industry, publishing, environmental consultancy and government
departments were interviewed by telephone. The main findings of
this survey were:
- Users felt
that information from systematic biology is not sufficiently
available or easy to access.
- Specific
priorities for research identified by users included:
lower plants,
terrestrial invertebrates and micro- organisms (groups which are
poorly known at present).
lists of species
occurring in particular habitats or particular countries, particularly
the UK.
the application
of knowledge from systematics to current problems, from the conservation
of threatened habitats to the search for new pest control methods
or pharmaceutical products.
- Many of
the people surveyed did not appear to understand how systematics
research is carried out and the distinction between this discipline
and others in which systematics knowledge is applied, such as
ecology and conservation.
- It was
widely agreed that there are too few systematists, as their
output is unable to keep pace with growing demand for basic
research, information and training in taxonomic skills.
Although representing
only a small selection of views, this survey highlighted some
key areas to be addressed in the Forum’s work.
A summary
of the survey report can be found on the UKSF’s WWW page.
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The strategy aims
to complement and build upon institutional priorities and objectives
by providing a framework in which individual scientists and the key
institutions can each find their place. To achieve this, the strategy
has taken into account the diverse responsibilities of the various institutions
involved and the limited resources currently available to them in relation
to the scale of the task to be undertaken. In addition, while they are
addressed to the UK, the priorities set out in this report necessarily
fit into the wider global framework. Like other sciences, systematics
is an international endeavour (figure 8) , with
different countries having different strengths in collectionsand expertise
that need to be integrated to maximise their contribution.
| figure
8 Improving
animal health
The New World screwworm fly,
Cochliomyia hominivorax, is the most serious insect pest of livestock
in the Americas and can also cause severe infestation of humans.
The fly larvae feed on the hosts living tissues, causing extensive
damage or even death. In 1988, New World screwworm fly was detected
for the first time in the Old World (in Libya, North Africa).
Entomologists at The Natural History Museum made the confirmatory
identification. Their £50 identification triggered a US$
78 million eradication campaign co- ordinated by the Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Although the campaign
appeared costly, an independent economic assessment of costs and
benefits of the eradication campaign estimated the return on investment
to be in the region of 50: 1, for North Africa alone. However,
the rapid, hard- hitting eradication campaign was needed not only
for the benefit of the North African region. It prevented spread
of the fly into sub- Saharan Africa where the New World screwworm
fly was predicted to have potentially grave consequences for wildlife
populations, in addition to costs to the livestock industry estimated
to be hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Taxonomic studies
and training of local personnel in identification skills were
important components of the eradication campaign, because of the
lack of local knowledge of the screwworm fly in its new environment.
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