Taxonomy is one of the foundational sciences in biology and is becoming increasing sophisticated as the relationships between genotypes, phenotypes and reproductive biology are better understood. One way taxonomy is important to the wider world is through taxonomic lists. Lists of species and an understanding of phylogeny is critical to understanding ecology, to conservation and to biosecurity. However, inconsistencies between lists of species arising from a failure to keep lists up to date or philosophical differences about what is a species greatly impede communication and waste substantial conservation resources. With support of the International Union of Biological Sciences and in collaboration with the Catalogue of Life, our research is aiming to improve the governance of lists and their quality.
Meet the team
- Stephen Garnett
- Claire Johnston
- Aaron Lien
- Frank Zachos
Publications
Lien, A. M., Banki, O., Barik, S. K., Buckeridge, J. S., Christidis, L., Cigliano, M. M., Conix, S., Costello, M. K., Hobern, D., Kirk, P. M., Kroh, A., Montgomery, N., Nikolaeva, S., Orrell, T. M., Pyle, R. L., Raz, L., Thiele, K., Thomson, S. A., van Dijk, P. P., Wambiji, N., Whalen, A., Zachos, F. E., Zhang, Z., Garnett, S. T. 2023. Widespread support for a global species list with a formal governance system Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120(45) https://doi:10.1073/pnas.2306899120
Ram Pandit, Michale Burton, Asha Gunawardena, Stephen T. Garnett, Kerstin K. Zander and David J. Pannell. 2022. The Scope Effect in Multiple Species Valuation SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4084339
Stephen T. Garnett, Golo Maurer and Georgia E. Garrard 2022. Why Australian common bird names should respond to societal change Emu - Austral Ornithology 122(2): 150-152. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2022.2096074
Thiele, K. R., Conix, S., Pyle, R. L., Barik, S. K., Christidis, L., Costello, M. J., ... & Garnett, S. T. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species I. Why taxonomists sometimes disagree, and why this matters Organisms Diversity & Evolution 21(4): 615-622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00495-y
Thomson, S. A., Thiele, K., Conix, S., Christidis, L., Costello, M. J., Hobern, D., ... & Garnett, S. T. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species II. Consequences of inadequate taxonomic list governance Organisms Diversity & Evolution 21(4): 623-630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00518-8
Conix, S., Garnett, S. T., Thiele, K. R., Christidis, L., van Dijk, P. P., Bánki, O. S., ... & Zachos, F. E. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species III. Independence and stakeholder inclusion Organisms Diversity & Evolution 21: 631-643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00496-x
Lien, A. M., Conix, S., Zachos, F. E., Christidis, L., van Dijk, P. P., Bánki, O. S., ... & Garnett, S. T. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species IV: Overcoming fragmentation in the governance of taxonomic lists Organisms Diversity & Evolution 21(4): 645-655. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00499-8
Pyle, R. L., Barik, S. K., Christidis, L., Conix, S., Costello, M. J., van Dijk, P. P., ... & Thiele, K. R. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species V. The devil is in the detail Organisms Diversity & Evolution 21(4): 657-675. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00504-0
Hobern, D., Barik, S. K., Christidis, L., T Garnett, S., Kirk, P., Orrell, T. M., ... & Bánki, O. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species VI: The Catalogue of Life checklist Organisms Diversity & Evolution 21(4): 677-690.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00516-w
Garnett, S T & Thomson, S A 2020. Are the implications for conservation of a major taxonomic revision of the world's birds' simply serendipity? Animal Conservation 23(4): 355--356. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12628
Garnett, Stephen T, Christidis, Les, Conix, Stijn, Costello, Mark J & Zachos, Frank E et al. 2020. Principles for creating a single authoritative list of the world's species PLOS Biology 18(7): e3000736. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000736
Nevard, Timothy D, Haase, Martin, Archibald, George, Leiper, Ian & {Van Zalinge}, Robert N et al. 2020. Subspecies in the Sarus Crane Antigone antigone revisited; with particular reference to the Australian population PLOS ONE 15(4): e0230150. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230150
Garnett, S.T. 2019. A defining problem, New Scientist 241: 26-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0262-4079(19)30329-X
Zachos F. E., Christidis L. and Garnett S. T. 2019. Mammalian species and the twofold nature of taxonomy: a comment on Taylor et al. 2019 Mammalia 84: 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2019-0009
Nevard, T., Haase, M., Archibald, G., Leiper, I., & Garnett, S. 2019. The sarolga: Conservation implications of genetic and visual evidence for hybridization between the brolga Antigone rubicunda and the Australian sarus crane Antigone antigone gillae Oryx 54(1): 40 - 51. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531800073X
Garnett, S.T. and Christidis, L. 2018. Better governance will lead to better taxonomy: response to Raposo et al. (2017) Zootaxa 4418: 296-298. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4418.3.7
Garnett, S.T. and Christidis, L. 2018. Science-based taxonomy still needs better governance: Response to Thomson et al. PLoS biology 16: e2005249. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005249
Ehmke, G., Fitzsimons, J.A. and Garnett, S.T. 2017. Standardising English names for Australian bird subspecies as a conservation tool Bird Conservation International 28: 73-85. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270916000538
Garnett, S.T. and Christidis, L. 2017. Taxonomy anarchy hampers conservation. Nature 546: 25-27. https://doi.org/10.1038/546025a
Garnett, S.T. and Christidis, L. 2007. Implication of changing species definitions for conservation purposes. Bird Conservation International 17: 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270907000809
Garnett, S.T., Crowley, G.M. and Stattersfield, A.J. 2003. Changes in the conservation status of Australian birds resulting from differences in taxonomy, knowledge and the definitions of threat. Biological Conservation 113: 269-276. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00377-4