Corresponding author: Nicolas J. Dowdy (
Academic editor:
Taxonomy is foundational to all biological sciences. Names allow us to organize and communicate information about biological groups. This process is critical for understanding and preserving the biodiversity of our planet. There are an estimated 8.7 million extant eukaryotes (
A few major hurdles in overcoming this challenge are the inability to find, share, and update taxonomic resources efficiently in real time. Efforts to standardize and continually update taxonomic names in a sustainable way have been limited. The problem is complex, and solutions must deal with the large backlog of names, a constant stream of new names, the confusing merging and splitting of taxonomic synonyms, the subjective nature of taxonomic concepts, and the fundamental limitations on available expertise and curators' time to prepare and maintain such resources. Hyperdiverse groups such as arthropods are especially challenging as there are relatively few experts on any given lineage and changes in taxonomy can be rapid as new species are continually being discovered and described.
After struggling to wrangle taxonomic resources in support of specimen digitization efforts, I began development of TaxoTracker as a proof-of-concept, web-based platform for facilitating expert curation and dissemination of biological taxonomies. TaxoTracker is still in development, but its current and planned functionalities will be shown through a combination of demonstration and discussion. TaxoTracker identifies and implements features that attempt to simplify the production and maintenance of expert-curated resources, while also limiting the responsibilities that are placed on individual experts who are often already overburdened and underfunded. These features include:
Centralized, searchable, and easily obtained resources in useful formats Community-driven, citation-based curatorial suggestions Expert-reviewed curatorial recommendations Consensus-driven curatorial decisions Effort tracking and credit for suggestions and reviews
Nicolas J. Dowdy
TDWG 2021
TCN-1901932; DBI-1811897
No conflicts of interests are declared.
I would like to thank Vijay Barve, Teresa Mayfield-Meyer, André Poremski, and Jennifer Zaspel for valuable discussion during the development of TaxoTracker. Existing biodiversity informatics workbenches such as Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms, World Spider Catalogue, TaxonWorks, and Bionomia (as well as many others) were inspirational during the conceptualization of TaxoTracker. I would also like to thank the many curators who donate their time and efforts to maintain the taxonomy of life, without whom this work would not be possible.
TCN-1901932; DBI-1811897
Digitizing collections to trace parasite-host associations and predict the spread of vector-borne disease; Behavioral and chemoecology on the pin: utilizing collections to transform our understanding of the bat-moth co-evolutionary arms race
No conflicts of interests are declared.