Biodiversity, taxonomic infrastructure, international collaboration, and new species discovery

Abstract

Geographic and political factors affect global research in many areas of biology with substantial field components. Progress in new species discovery continues to be undermined by sociopolitical impediments. The number of new species discovered from individual countries in 1 year is highly dependent on taxonomic infrastructure and country-scale biodiversity. Publication patterns suggest that alpha taxonomy is a higher research priority in high-biodiversity countries than in low-biodiversity countries. Alpha-taxonomy articles with authors affiliated with high-biodiversity, low-taxonomic-infrastructure tropical countries have very high rates of international collaboration, underscoring its importance in the discovery of new tropical species. Most new species descriptions include specimens collected less than 5 years prior to publication, which indicates the importance of ongoing collection efforts. National and international policies that strengthen both the taxonomic infrastructure of high-biodiversity countries and collaborations between high-biodiversity and high-taxonomic-infrastructure countries are necessary to accelerate global biodiversity discovery, given the current rapid rate of species extinctions. © 2014 The Author(s).