Simple & Ambitious!

Advocates Opposition

ID all species

Discover new species

Speed up ID’s

Revitalize biological collections

Won’t work

Destroy traditional systematics

Service industry

Pseudo taxonomy

New Scientist26 June, 2004

Trends in Ecology & EvolutionFeb. 2003. Vol. 18, Iss. 2

3 of these 5 are the most downloaded papers in TREE

1. Taxonomy: renaissance or Tower of Babel? Jim Mallet et al4. A plea for DNA taxonomy Tautz et al5. The encyclopedia of life Edward Wilson

Propositions to vote on:

i) Should we devote resources towards sequencing a reference collection of specimens for the development a DNA barcoding system? [Yes, No, or Abstain]

ii) Should DNA sequences play a primary role in the discovery of new species?

[Yes, No, or Abstain]

Vote before and after the debate!