Methods and Strategies in Taxonomic Research

Abstract

Mayr, Ernst (Mus. Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass. 02138) 1971. Methods and Strategies in Taxonomic Research. Syst. Zool., 20:426-433.-The ever increasing demands on the time of the research taxonomist necessitate regularly a scrutiny of taxonomic and curatorial practices in order to permit elimination of obsolete rituals. Much time can be saved by eliminating unproductive practices and by establishing a clear sequence of priorities. What this should be depends on the group of which the taxonomist is a specialist. There has never been a period at which greater demands have been made on the time of museum curators than the present. Ecological surveys and expeditions ask for the identification of their material, an increasing number of graduate students from universities all over the country ask for loans of material for their theses, and the increasing committee work so characteristic of modern science demands an ever greater share of a curator's time. The International Biological Program (IBP), the Ecological Research on the Sea-level Canal across the Isthmus of Panama, and other major ecological surveys, together with the accelerated programs in oceanography will unquestionably in the future greatly add to the work load of taxonomists. While the number of systematists has somewhat increased in recent years, it has not anywhere near kept pace with the increased demand for loans of research material and requests for identification and reports on collections. Under