http://www.bionomenclature.net/
Leaders: Regine Jahn, David L Hawksworth, Ellinor Michel, Ralf Reski
Countries involved: Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK and USA
Field of Research: nomenclature across all organism groups
A common concern of today is that numerous organisms are going extinct before they have even been described. Two of the reasons are that there are too few taxonomists, and that the procedures involved in formally naming new species are slow. For some groups of species – if not typical animals or plants - it is often difficult to know which of the current Codes to apply, and different authors take divergent views. Molecular biology (leading to the recognition of OTUs [Operational Taxonomic Units]) and online taxonomic information management systems (“cybertaxonomy”) offer ways to accelerate the recognition and description of new species, and these technologies need to be incorporated into the Codes in order to meet the future needs of the scientific community.
In addition, there is a need for harmonization of the Codes where possible, and work towards a single BioCode that can apply to all kinds of organisms from some date in the future. The BioCode will help avoid further fragmentation of the scientific communities working with different organisms using a potentially ever increasing numbers of special Codes, or different names for the same taxon (i.e. ambiregnal taxa for many algae groups).
The modernization of the Draft BioCode (last revised in 1997) is necessary to allow for developments in the electronic and molecular phylogenetic era, and promises to provide a system of internationally agreed rules that will facilitate the more efficient working of taxonomists and so contribute to an acceleration in the description of the Earth's biodiversity. The feasibility of the provisions also accommodating the PhyloCode will also be examined in depth.
The new revision of the BioCode produced under this programme will be submitted to the currently mandated organizations responsible for the current five Codes for consideration, and also to a subsequent General Assembly of IUBS, and the separate IUMS Congresses, for endorsement.
