Field Photography and the Democratization of Arthropod Taxonomy
2008; Oxford University Press; Volume: 54; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ae/54.4.207
ISSN2155-9902
Autores Tópico(s)Forest Insect Ecology and Management
ResumoAmerican Entomologist • Volume 54, Number 4 The tools and skills needed for digital photography, even photography of very small things, are now almost as easily obtained as Internet access, and these newly ubiquitous technologies are having a profound impact on entomology. Web-distributed macrophotographs are enabling the most significant revolution in the study of biodiversity since the invention of the microscope, leading to an unprecedented democratization of arthropod taxonomy. The general accessibility, growing appeal, and growing power of field macrophotography creates the potential for a more profound impact on taxonomy than we can expect from higher-profile technologies available only to a few professional scientists. Hundreds of thousands of potentially useful insect images are being captured annually by the rapidly swelling ranks of amateur entomologists, with exponential increases in postings to Web sites like BugGuide.net (http://bugguide.net/node/ view/15740), with its 50,000 or so communityidentified images. The revolution is upon us, and it is coming from the grassroots. Now that any naturalist can go out and make a digital insect collection, enlist the aid of an online community to identify specimens, and share images and associated data with the world, arthropod taxonomy is becoming democratized. Professional entomologists have much to gain from, and much to contribute to, this revolution. We can contribute by recognizing our opportunity and responsibility not only to produce more accessible new taxonomies, but also to return to the taxonomies of the past generation and use newly available tools to professionally interpret them for wider audiences. Many of us are, of course, doing exactly that through Web sites and other products, and there is now a Web-based journal that provides peer-reviewed publication of image-rich treatments of arthropod identification. The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification (CJAI) (http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ ejournal/ejournal.html) is a free, fully refereed journal that publishes taxonomic reviews with coverage that at least overlaps Canada (recently submitted papers range from global to provincial in scope). The identification tools and faunal treatments published in CJAI are freely available to, and easily useable by, a wide range of users including Field Photography and the Democratization of Arthropod Taxonomy
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