Taxonomy & Parataxonomy

Taxonomy is historically understood as the science which "discover, discern, describe, name, classify, study, compare and identify (…) living and extinct species and other taxa" [1] using morphological, genetic, ecological, reproductive, and other characteristics. Despite earlier work, taxonomy had its formal birth in the 1750s as a biological discipline with work by Carl Linnaeus. Taxonomy, one of the oldest biological disciplines, evolved and merged throughout history with related disciplines. As a result of this evolution, taxonomists now differentiate between three fields: the alpha, beta and gamma taxonomy. Where the first describes the species in its species-specific characters, the latter two describe the relation of the species within the system of organisms with its environment and evolution. Therefore, taxonomy is a vast discipline, and some suggest that 10 -15 years of experience is the minimum to become accepted as a taxonomist. Only recently, the Australian Academy of Science issued a report by Deloitte Australia highlighting that for each Dollar invested in Taxonomy, the return will be 4 to 35 times higher [2]; it is to assume that in New Zealand, the benefits will be even higher.

Particularly, the possibility of describing an environment by recognizing indicator species led to one taxonomic tool, "Parataxonomy", used by biologists with and without taxonomic training. Parataxonomy is particularly relevant for benthic monitoring projects as it helps to describe the state of an environment before a project (baseline assessment) during or after the work is done to describe the environmental changes. This tool also plays an important role in describing the state of the environment around aquaculture farms to see the farm's impact on the environment and if the environment is still suitable for aquaculture or could potentially become a threat to the crop. The beauty of parataxonomy is that it is possible to be done by many with as little training as organisms are identified as a recognizable taxonomic unit (RTU). However, these RTUs must first be identified and evaluated by Taxonomists and Ecologists; otherwise, the tool leads to an increase in the volume of unnecessary and unreliable information [3]. These circumstances are exaggerated due to the use of outdated literature, the use of invalid characters by the Parataxonomists due to their minimalistic training, lack of progress and missing collaboration with Taxonomists.

Ocean Wolf and its associate services strive to make a difference through experience, knowledge and collaboration; we can provide taxonomic service where needed (e.g. pest management, biosecurity, biodiversity…) and parataxonomy for benthic monitoring projects. After discussing the project with you, Ocean Wolf can provide advice and services tailored to your project and, therefore, save you significant costs.

Sternaspis spp. (image credit Dayanitha Damodaran)

Polychaete of the Family Glyceridae

Parataxonomy in the making , sediment sample sorted into size category after “washing“ and before the identification of Recognizable Taxonomic Units (RTUs)

Unindentified reference material containing potentially undescribed species and new record to New Zealand like Prionospio spp. cf queenslandica  (Blake & Kudenov, 1978)

What other customer and collaborator say about Ocean Wolf - Taxonomy services say:

'Paul recently identified a number of polychaete specimens for me from a survey of soft sediment fauna at Goat Island in northern New Zealand.  His service was very prompt and reasonably priced, and I'd unreservedly recommend him to others.' 

Dr. Richard Taylor, University of Auckland

In-text references:

[1] A. T. Peterson et al., “Taxonomy Decadal Plan Working Group (2018),” Canberra and Wellington, 2018.

[2] Deloitte Access Economics, “Cost benefit analysis of a mission to discover and document Australia’s species Rapid cost benefit analysis of a mission to discover and document all remaining species in Australia in a generation,” Perth, 2020.

[3] D. F. Ward and M. C. Stanley, “The value of RTUs and parataxonomy versus Taxonomic species,” New Zeal. Entomol., vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 3–9, 2004, doi: 10.1080/00779962.2004.9722118.