Titre :	Biodiversity at its utmost : tropical forest beetles
Type de document :	texte imprimé
Auteurs :	Terry L. Erwin, Auteur
Année de publication :	1996
Importance :	p 27-40
Langues :	Anglais (eng)
Catégories :	SCIENCES DE LA VIE
Mots-clés :	BIODIVERSITE  FORET TROPICALE  SCARABEE  TAXONOMIE  INSECTE
Résumé :	The rate at which all the foregoing can be done is 58 specimens and 13 species per hour, therefore, using the rate of accumulation for additional species found in Panama forest foliage, 1.7 per m3 of microhabitat, we should be able to sample 70,000m3 of microhabitat and process 50,000 species of beetles in 2 ½ years. In other words, we know the actors and where they are standing on the stage and each has a number hanging around its neck. The taxasphere is another creature and getting formal names on the inventoried species is highly dependent on the group of beetles, its history of studies and its current taxonomists. The advantages of the TWIG (Taxonomic Working Group)protocol are that (1) it is far more rapid than any of its predecessors; (2) data byproducts allow diverse follow-up studies beyond the inventory process; (3) targeted taxa known to be important to users can be piped readily (and continuously) through the taxasphere; (4) space and storage facilities are minimized because samples mostly are stored cold in two-dram shell vials or petri dishes until needed by a dedicated specialist; and (5) dedicated specialists will “donate” their time to the collections as they select and prepare specimens from cold storage, hence building collections becomes a shared taxaspheric process. Beyond the inventory itself, such questions as “do beetles form discreet assemblages in tropical forests, or in any biotope anywhere?” can be tested. If so, how that information might be used for answering scientific questions and for developing conservation strategies is of considerable interest. The objective of this kind of study would be to fill a large gap in our understanding of hyperdiversity. For example, (1) what percentage do beetles contribute to a sample? (2) what is the fidelity of beetle faunules to microhabitats?(3) what is the rate of species turnover across extensive geographic space in the tropics? (4) What is the rate of the local species replacement among and between tropical microhabitats?(5) What proportion of the total beetle fauna inhabits arboreal versus forest floor habitats?(6)What is the rate of change in composition of faunules with respect to altitude? This information does not now exist on any meaningful scale for any hyper-diverse group of organisms. Without this information, it is impossible to scale any kind of locally derived estimate of biodiversity to even a regional perspective. With this information, we believe that we can get much closer to estimating the magnitude of life on the planet and with these kinds off data from three or four ATBIs, much finer estimates can be made elsewhere of actual amounts of biodiversity that are based on fewer samples and made quicker inventories.
Numéro du document :	A/BIO
Niveau Bibliographique :	2
Bull1 (Theme principale) :	BIOLOGIE
Bull2 (Theme secondaire) :	BIOLOGIE GENERALE

Biodiversity at its utmost : tropical forest beetles [texte imprimé] / Terry L. Erwin, Auteur . - 1996 . - p 27-40.
Langues : Anglais (eng)

Catégories :	SCIENCES DE LA VIE
Mots-clés :	BIODIVERSITE  FORET TROPICALE  SCARABEE  TAXONOMIE  INSECTE
Résumé :	The rate at which all the foregoing can be done is 58 specimens and 13 species per hour, therefore, using the rate of accumulation for additional species found in Panama forest foliage, 1.7 per m3 of microhabitat, we should be able to sample 70,000m3 of microhabitat and process 50,000 species of beetles in 2 ½ years. In other words, we know the actors and where they are standing on the stage and each has a number hanging around its neck. The taxasphere is another creature and getting formal names on the inventoried species is highly dependent on the group of beetles, its history of studies and its current taxonomists. The advantages of the TWIG (Taxonomic Working Group)protocol are that (1) it is far more rapid than any of its predecessors; (2) data byproducts allow diverse follow-up studies beyond the inventory process; (3) targeted taxa known to be important to users can be piped readily (and continuously) through the taxasphere; (4) space and storage facilities are minimized because samples mostly are stored cold in two-dram shell vials or petri dishes until needed by a dedicated specialist; and (5) dedicated specialists will “donate” their time to the collections as they select and prepare specimens from cold storage, hence building collections becomes a shared taxaspheric process. Beyond the inventory itself, such questions as “do beetles form discreet assemblages in tropical forests, or in any biotope anywhere?” can be tested. If so, how that information might be used for answering scientific questions and for developing conservation strategies is of considerable interest. The objective of this kind of study would be to fill a large gap in our understanding of hyperdiversity. For example, (1) what percentage do beetles contribute to a sample? (2) what is the fidelity of beetle faunules to microhabitats?(3) what is the rate of species turnover across extensive geographic space in the tropics? (4) What is the rate of the local species replacement among and between tropical microhabitats?(5) What proportion of the total beetle fauna inhabits arboreal versus forest floor habitats?(6)What is the rate of change in composition of faunules with respect to altitude? This information does not now exist on any meaningful scale for any hyper-diverse group of organisms. Without this information, it is impossible to scale any kind of locally derived estimate of biodiversity to even a regional perspective. With this information, we believe that we can get much closer to estimating the magnitude of life on the planet and with these kinds off data from three or four ATBIs, much finer estimates can be made elsewhere of actual amounts of biodiversity that are based on fewer samples and made quicker inventories.
Numéro du document :	A/BIO
Niveau Bibliographique :	2
Bull1 (Theme principale) :	BIOLOGIE
Bull2 (Theme secondaire) :	BIOLOGIE GENERALE