AUSTRALIA—GERMANY WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY

The Shine Dome, 13-17 March 2006

Marine taxonomy in Australia — 2006
by Dr Gary C. B. Poore, Senior Curator, Museum Victoria

Australia’s marine fauna remains largely undescribed and unexamined. Marine taxonomists are employed professionally in eight Australian state museums, but rarely in federal institutions. They number about 30 and are assisted by collection managers, honorary associates and retirees. Some taxa and environments are well understood, others less so. Museum scientists continue to describe species and revise taxa but are becoming more involved with and are funded by environmental agencies. Funding priorities provide work for parataxonomists to sort surveys while funding for original taxonomy is more difficult to obtain. Already large museum collections, especially of partly identified material, continue to grow. Australian initiatives in bioinformatics include the ABRS funding scheme, expert cataloguing and online data retrieval, electronic description and identification tools, training of students, and museum-based public education.