Biodiversity-rich Countries Research Articles

Diversity and Distribution of Avifauna in the Northeast of Addis Ababa, Central Ethiopia.

Exploring avian species diversity and distribution patterns is vigorous for conservation efforts in biodiversity-rich countries such as Ethiopia. Compared to other species, birds are relatively well-known and easily observed, making them great markers of productivity or biodiversity. Although bird species are found all across the world, their survival and range have been negatively impacted by habitat loss, fragmentation, and destruction. Thus, the goal of this study is to provide baseline data on avifaunal diversity in the Northeast of Addis Ababa, including species richness, distribution, and relative abundance in various habitats conducted from January 2023 to September 2023 using a stratified sampling design into three habitat types: settlement, farmland, and abattoir. A fixed-width line transect sampling method was used at the farmland and settlement, and a point transect was employed at the abattoir site to collect the bird data. The data were compared using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests in both seasons and habitat types. A total of 42 bird species belonging to twenty-three families, and nine orders were recorded during the study period. Of these, blue-winged goose and wattled ibis are endemic to Ethiopia. Hooded vultures and White-backed vultures are critically endangered species. The mean abundance of bird species significantly varied in the three habitat types (χ2 = 13.6, df = 2, p=0.001). The abundance of bird species was nonsignificant difference between wet and dry seasons (U = -0.874, p=0.381). The highest diversity (H' = 2.74) was recorded at settlement, and the lowest diversity index (H' = 1.09) was recorded at the abattoir in the dry season. In the wet season, the highest diversity (H' = 2.66) was recorded in the farmland, and the lowest (H' = 1.08) was recorded at the abattoir. The highest evenness (J = 0.94 and J = 0.93) was recorded on the farmland in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. In the study area, urbanization is extremely impacting the environment and altering ecosystem services upon which human civilization depends. Most of the avian species observed in the study area are capable and tolerant of human-induced habitats in the city. Therefore, city planners must consider conserving urban bird species' habitats and feeding sites.

The crux of wildlife trafficking in Nepal

Abstract Nepal is a biodiversity-rich country harboring endangered wildlife species. Despite commendable achievements in conserving charismatic wildlife species like the Tiger and Rhinoceros, Nepal is still a pivotal point for the illicit wildlife trade. In this perspective, we explore the current situation of wildlife poaching and smuggling, factors conducive to such activities, and present some minimum practitioner steps for what should be tried to prevent such a situation in Nepal.

Toxicity Evaluation of Punica Granatum Fruit Peel Nanoemulsion against Tribolium Castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

In this work, the essential oils were extracted from the peels of Punica granatum (Pomegranate). Insects carry natural ecosystem service area as biological controller of pests specifically the biodiversity-rich countries. Insects one of the maximum common pest stored grains and identified to infest 233 different types of pests. The study is to be synthesised the Essential oils and nano emulsion from the waste of Mosambi fruit peel. The nano emulsion were prepared and before, double distilled water added to mixture (4:1 respectively) and stirred for 60min to attain a homologous Emulsified phase.

Diversity of medium and large-sized mammal species in Chilimo Forest, West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract Investigating species distribution and diversity patterns is vital for conservation efforts in biodiversity-rich countries such as Ethiopia. The present study examined the diversity of medium and large-sized mammal species in the Chilimo forest, West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia. It was conducted from January 2022 to October 2022 by stratifying the study area into three habitat types: natural forest, plantation, and human-modified forest. A fixed-width line transect sampling method was used to collect the mammalian data. A total of 14 medium and large mammal species belonging to 11 families and six orders, were recorded in the forest during the study period. Of these, 11 were medium, and 3 were large-sized mammals. The Olive Baboon (Papio anubis) was the most abundant mammal species, accounting for 41.7 % of the total abundance. The abundance of medium and large-sized mammals varied significantly among the three habitat types (Species × Habitat; Chi-square test of independence; χ2 = 163.385, df = 26, p < 0.001) and between the wet and dry seasons (Species × Season; Chi-square test of independence; χ2 = 43.753, df = 13, p < 0.001). During the dry season, species diversity was the highest in the natural forest and plantation habitat (H’ = 1.76 in both). The natural forest also supported the highest species diversity during the wet season (H’ = 1.57), followed by the plantation and human-modified habitats (H’ = 1.54 in both). An 88% similarity in species composition was observed between the natural and human-modified forests. The occurrence of 14 species of medium and large-sized mammals in the study area calls for immediate conservation actions in collaboration with respective stakeholders to protect the area’s biodiversity.

"Publish First": A Rapid, GPT-4 Based Digitisation System for Small Institutes with Minimal Resources

We present a streamlined technical solution ("Publish First") designed to assist smaller, resource-constrained herbaria in rapidly publishing their specimens to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Specimen data from smaller herbaria, particularly those in biodiversity-rich regions of the world, provide a valuable and often unique contribution to the global pool of biodiversity knowledge (Marsico et al. 2020). However, these institutions often face challenges not applicable to larger herbaria, including a lack of staff with technical skills, limited staff hours for digitization work, inadequate financial resources for specialized scanning equipment, cameras, lights, and imaging stands, limited (or no) access to computers and collection management software, and unreliable internet connections. Data-scarce and biodiversity rich countries are also often linguistically diverse (Gorenflo et al. 2012), and staff may not have English skills, which means pre-existing online data publication resources and guides are of limited use. The "Publish First" method we are trialing, addresses several of these issues: it drastically simplifies the publication process so technical skills are not necessary; it minimizes administrative tasks saving time; it uses simple, cheap and easily available hardware; it does not require any specialized software; and the process is so simple that there is little to no need for any written instructions. "Publish first" requires staff to attach QR code labels containing identifiers to herbarium specimen sheets, scan these sheets using a document scanner costing around €300, then drag and drop these files to an S3 bucket (a cloud container that specialises in storing files). Subsequently, these images are automatically processed through an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) service to extract text, which is then passed on to OpenAI's Generative Pre-Transformer 4 (GPT-4) Application Programming Interface (API), for standardization. The standardized data is integrated into a Darwin Core Archive file that is automatically published through GBIF's Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) (GBIF 2021). The most technically challenging aspect of this project has been the standardization of OCR data to Darwin Core using the GPT-4 API, particularly in crafting precise prompts to address the inherent inconsistency and lack of reliability in these Large Language Models (LLMs). Despite this, GPT-4 outperformed our manual scraping efforts. Our choice of GPT-4 as a model was a naive one: we implemented the workflow on some pre-digitized specimens from previously published Norwegian collections, compared the published data on GBIF with GPT-4's Darwin Core standardized output, and found the results satisfactory. Moving forward, we plan to undertake more rigorous additional research to compare the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of different LLMs as Darwin Core standardization engines. We are also particularly interested in exploring the new "function calling" feature added to the GPT-4 API, as it promises to allow us to retrieve standardized data in a more consistent and structured format. This workflow is currently under trial in Tajikistan, and may possibly be used in Uzbekistan, Armenia and Italy in the near future.

Checklist, typification details, and nomenclature status of ascomycetous fungi originally described in Sri Lanka

Despite being a biodiversity-rich country, Sri Lanka’s fungal diversity remains largely unexplored. In the 19th century, British mycologists conducted extensive research, leading to the identification of more than 1,800 fungal taxa, including ascomycetous and basidiomycetous species. However, the majority of these taxa have not been revisited since their initial description, and molecular evidence is lacking. Moreover, a significant number of fungal taxa have been deemed invalid or illegitimate, indicating the need for a nomenclatural revision. To address this knowledge gap, this review provides a comprehensive list of ascomycetous taxa (including both lichen-forming and non-lichenized) that were originally described in Sri Lanka. Names are listed according to the original names which were included in the protologue. In the cases where species have been transferred to other genera, the current names and new classifications are provided. The typification details, nomenclature status, and classification are also presented. This checklist will serve as a valuable resource for the future epitypification of old taxa, as much of the existing information is poorly documented and scattered.

Diversity of Arthropods in an Oil Palm Plantation in Sabah

Malaysia is one of the largest palm oil-producing countries in the world. Located in the Southeast Asia region, this country is also known as one of the mega biodiversity-rich countries which contains numerous species. In this study, arthropods were sampled using sticky traps at three sites within an oil palm dominated landscape. We examined how vegetation structure affects arthropod community distribution within an oil palm plantation. The number of arthropod species was significantly greater at higher vegetation complexity structures. The findings also showed that the number of arthropod species that had been recorded for the three sites had nearly reached asymptote. This study suggests that maintaining vegetation complexity through sustainable agriculture practice as recommended by the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) may be useful in supporting arthropod species within oil palm plantations.

Integrative Conservation: A new journal from the conservation frontline

<i>Integrative Conservation</i>: A new journal from the conservation frontline

Vegetation diversity of Hemaq Beniung Customary Forest, West Kutai, East Kalimantan

Indonesia is a biodiversity-rich country with the second-largest tropical forest in the world. One East Kalimantan Forest area in focus is the Hemaq Beniung Customary Forest. The Hemaq Beniung Customary Forest is the first customary forest with its license granted in East Kalimantan by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia. Information on vegetation diversity is essential to ensure sustainable management of this forest area. This research provides such information through a survey with purposively chosen samples representing Hemaq Beniung Customary Forest. The study reveals that the Importance Value Index of vegetation in different habitus (i.e., seedling, sapling, pole, and tree) are low, except for Elateriospermum tapos Blume, which has a moderate value for the vegetation at the pole and tree habitus. The research also shows a high Richness Index (R), high Diversity Index’(H'), an almost evenly distributed Evenness Index (e), and a low Dominance Index (C). Syzygium borneensis (Miq.) Miq. and Knema elmerii Merr. have the highest Importance Value Index for seedling and sapling habitus, respectively, while Elateriospermum tapos Blume has the highest Species Significance Index for both pole and tree habitus. This study also found two dipterocarp tree species categorized as Critically Endangered (CR), namely Shorea johorensis Foxw. and Shorea lamellata Foxw. The presence of these CR species calls serious attention to managing the Hemaq Beniung Customary Forest mainly for hydrological function and conservation purposes while improving local communities' economy.

Increased Production of Freedia Herbal SME Hippocrates Medika Palembang with The Application of Extraction Machine Technology

Indonesia is the second largest biodiversity-rich country in the world. Abundant biodiversity makes Indoensia rich in the potential of plants to be used as a variety of flavorful vegetables, dried fruit, medicine and medicinal plants packaged in the form of herbs. Freedia is the flagship product of this SME which is downstream from the innovation products of Rachmat Hidayat and the team. Freedia is an herb that is processed as a brew drink to overcome diabetes mellitus disorder. The implementation of this activity uses methods of observation, interview, design, manufacturing, trial, application and monitoring. Based on the results of the application of extraction machines in UKM Hippocrates Medika it can be concluded that the existence of these machines greatly supports the production process of freedia herbs to three times more than before.

Plant Iconography Vis-A-Vis Plant Invasion in India: Glimpses, Sources and Evidences

India is a biodiversity rich country as well as mosaic of cultural traditions. Plant invasion has been demonstrated by biodiversity studies in India. Mankind had always determined the status of plant, whether indigenous or exotic and developed with them abstract relationships. The present author revealed a role of 26 exotic plant species in the development plant iconography and simultaneous forces of plant invasion in India even during pre-Columbian period. India being rich in ancient literary sources in the form of Vedas, Puranas, epics, caves, temples, Sanskrit writings etc. and replete with plant references, afforded numerous sources of plant iconography. It is an outstanding resource for research on plant history and diversity. However, study of plant iconography demands a wide collaboration with researchers of different subjects or disciplines. At the same, plant invasion hand-in-hand plant iconography are discussed pertinently in Indian context, a hitherto virgin area of research.

Plant Iconography Vis-A-Vis Plant Invasion in India: Glimpses, Sources and Evidences

India is a biodiversity rich country as well as mosaic of cultural traditions. Plant invasion has been demonstrated by biodiversity studies in India. Mankind had always determined the status of plant, whether indigenous or exotic and developed with them abstract relationships. The present author revealed a role of 26 exotic plant species in the development plant iconography and simultaneous forces of plant invasion in India even during pre-Columbian period. India being rich in ancient literary sources in the form of Vedas, Puranas, epics, caves, temples, Sanskrit writings etc. and replete with plant references, afforded numerous sources of plant iconography. It is an outstanding resource for research on plant history and diversity. However, study of plant iconography demands a wide collaboration with researchers of different subjects or disciplines. At the same, plant invasion hand-in-hand plant iconography are discussed pertinently in Indian context, a hitherto virgin area of research.

A database and checklist of geometrid moths (Lepidoptera) from Colombia.

BackgroundMolecular DNA sequence data allow unprecedented advances in biodiversity assessments, monitoring schemes and taxonomic works, particularly in poorly-explored areas. They allow, for instance, the sorting of material rapidly into operational taxonomic units (such as BINs - Barcode Index Numbers), sequences can be subject to diverse analyses and, with linked metadata and physical vouchers, they can be examined further by experts. However, a prerequisite for their exploitation is the construction of reference libraries of DNA sequences that represent the existing biodiversity. To achieve these goals for Geometridae (Lepidoptera) moths in Colombia, expeditions were carried out to 26 localities in the northern part of the country in 2015–2019. The aim was to collect specimens and sequence their DNA barcodes and to record a fraction of the species richness and occurrences in one of the most biodiversity-rich countries. These data are the beginning of an identification guide to Colombian geometrid moths, whose identities are currently often provisional only, being morpho species or operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Prior to the current dataset, 99 Geometridae sequences forming 44 BINs from Colombia were publicly available on the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD), covering 20 species only.New informationWe enrich the Colombian Geometridae database significantly by including DNA barcodes, two nuclear markers, photos of vouchers and georeferenced occurrences of 281 specimens of geometrid moths from different localities. These specimens are classified into 80 genera. Analytical tools on BOLD clustered 157 of the mentioned sequences to existing BINs identified to species level, identified earlier by experts. Another 115 were assigned to BINs that were identified to genus or tribe level only. Eleven specimens did not match any existing BIN on BOLD and are, therefore, new additions to the database. It is likely that many BINs represent undescribed species. Nine short sequences (< 500bp) were not assigned to BINs, but identified to the lowest taxonomic category by expert taxonomists and with comparisons of type material photos. The released new genetic information will help to further progress the systematics of Geometridae. An illustrated catalogue of all new records allows validation of our identifications; it is also the first document of this kind for Colombian Geometridae. All specimens are deposited at the Museo de Zoología of Universidad de Sucre (MZUS), North Colombia. DNA BINs are reported in this study through dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-GEOCO, the species occurrences are available on SIB Colombia https://sibcolombia.net/ and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) https://www.gbif.org/ through https://doi.org/10.15472/ucfmkh.

Vietnamese Medicinal Plants as Potential Resources to Explore New Anticancer and Anti-inflammation: Established Assays for Pharmacological Tests.

Cancer is one of the most serious health problems in the world, which annually increases in incidence and mortality rates. Among therapies for cancer, chemical treatments are widespread. However, the benefit of these compounds remains limited due to high cytotoxicity, resistances, and non-selectivity. In addition to cancer, inflammation is also a common symptom and usually relates to other diseases such as infection and cancer. Therefore, investigation of new agents for anticancer and anti-inflammation is of high interest. The tropical climate of Vietnam makes it one of the most biodiversity-rich countries in the world, with a wide availability of traditional medicines and herbs for primary healthcare. However, most of utilization of Vietnamese medicinal plants is not evidence-based as few systematic studies of these have been performed. In this chapter, we present established anticancer and anti-inflammation assays for natural extract and compounds from a Vietnamese medicinal plant. In addition, the procedures of extraction, separation, and isolation of this plant are described.

Edible and Medicinal Pteridophytes of Nepal: A Review

Background: Traditional use of pteridophytes as food and medicine is a common practice around the world. Many ethnic communities hold vast knowledge about the uses of pteridophytes and the documentation of such knowledge and biodiversity of edible and medicinal pteridophytes is important for health care, food security and conservation. Although being one of the biodiversity rich countries, the detailed use of edible and medicinal pteridophytes from Nepal is not well documented and they are one of the underutilized plant resources having vast potential. Thus, the aim of this review is to compile the knowledge about the use of edible and medicinal pteridophytes in Nepal. Methods: Relevant information on traditional uses as medicinal and edible species were collected form published literatures such as research articles on ethnobotanical surveys, books, book chapters and conference proceedings. Results: The literature survey revealed that a total of 26 species of pteridophytes were used as food and 43 species were used as traditional medicines. Among 55 useful species, 14 species were used as both food and traditional medicine. Diplazium esculentum, Diplazium maximum, Dryopteris cochleata and Ophioglossum reticulatum were common edible species and Aleuritopteris albomarginata, Equisetum ramosissimum, Nephrolepis cordifolia and Tectaria coadunata were common medicinal pteridophytes. Most of species are growing in natural habitat and the potential utilization species were sold in the market which has also supported livelihood. Some of these pteridophytes were also used in preparation of ethnic foods such as fermented foods and pickles. Conclusion: Findings from the study suggested that only a few common species of pteridophytes are used as food and traditional medicines Nepal. The knowledge about the traditional uses of pteridophytes and their biodiversity is also affected by socioeconomic changes in communities, lack of sharing of traditional knowledge through generations, improper collection practices and climate change. Very few pteridophytes from Nepal have been studied in detail for their phytoconstituents and biological activities and safety. Future research activities should focus on providing scientific evidence for traditional uses as well as development of proper conservation, cultivation, and product formulation methods in a sustainable manner. Keywords: Conservation, ferns, fern allies, food security, human health

Potential contribution of OECMs to international area-based conservation targets in a biodiversity rich country, Spain

Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) are new conservation tools intended to complement protected areas (PAs) at achieving effective biodiversity conservation and meeting international area-based targets. However, OECMs have been rarely considered in practical terms until recently. Here, we performed a rapid evaluation on the degree of fulfilment of current area-based international biodiversity targets, post-2020 foreseeable oncoming targets, and ecological targets by considering: 1) Protection coverage; 2) Inclusiveness of important areas for biodiversity; 3) Protection management; 4) Connectivity; and 5) Habitat representation, on land and at sea in Spain, a Euro-Mediterranean, biodiversity rich country. We conducted the evaluation under two scenarios: 1) Scenario 1 considers designated PAs; and 2) Scenario 2, that also includes potential OECMs. In order to generate Scenario 2, thirteen legal categories were assessed against international guidance on OECMs as a first step to screen their likelihood of providing OECMs in Spain. Our findings show that some potentially satisfactory OECM categories such as Public Utility Forests, River Reserves or Geoparks meet the OECM criteria to a large degree and deserve further study. Our results also highlight that Spain is currently well above most foreseeable post-2020 biodiversity targets and even close to some ecological targets using just PAs, except for marine protected area (MPA) management and MPA offshore coverage. Adding OECMs would noticeably improve the country’s figures yet without reaching many exigent ecological targets. OECMs can become a useful, cost-effective biodiversity conservation tool that contributes to international targets under new, more ambitious area-based conservation requirements in Spain and elsewhere. Nevertheless, for this to happen, suitable biodiversity management and monitoring schemes must be ensured.

Three Decades of Nationwide Forest Cover Mapping Using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Data: A Success Story of Monitoring Forests for Conservation in India

India is a biodiversity-rich country. The panorama of Indian forests ranges from tropical evergreen rain forests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Western Ghats, and the north-eastern States, to Dry Alpine Scrub high in the Himalayas in the north. On the other extreme, tropical dry deciduous and thorn forest is found in the deserts and dry areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The variety and distribution of forest vegetation are large, and India is one of the 17 mega biodiversity regions of the world. Forestry in India supports a sizeable non-wood forest product-based economy apart from timber and fuelwood. In forested landscapes people are integrated with forest and make living out of it. On the other hand urbanization and infrastructure development are putting considerable pressure on forests. These issues need effective and efficient forest monitoring system. Hence in late 1980s, India entrusted Forest Survey of India to evolve robust and scientific method of forest monitoring. Thus, India has taken an early lead in establishing a forest monitoring system. The history of forest cover mapping using satellite images in the country goes back to 1983 when National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA—now known as NRSC-ISRO) prepared the first-ever forest cover map of India. Later, Forest Survey of India has been mandated with the forest cover mapping of the country in the biennial cycle since 1987. Three decades of forest cover mapping on a regular basis have been a remarkable achievement in the field of natural resource monitoring. India’s remote sensing-based periodic monitoring of forest cover, which is unique in the world, has played a major role in conservation and enhancement of forest cover of the country. Evolving with satellite data improvement and technological advancements, the methodology of forest cover mapping by FSI has seen significant changes over the years, wherein Indian remote sensing data, particularly the IRS 1C/1D LISS III data, have been the primary input in the time series mapping. This paper reviews the chronology and significance of this important forest monitoring programme of India.

Green Synthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles from Plant Extracts and Their Possible Applications as Antimicrobial Agents in the Agricultural Area

Currently, metal nanoparticles have varied uses for different medical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural applications. Nanobiotechnology, combined with green chemistry, has great potential for the development of novel and necessary products that benefit human health, environment, and industries. Green chemistry has an important role due to its contribution to unconventional synthesis methods of gold and silver nanoparticles from plant extracts, which have exhibited antimicrobial potential, among other outstanding properties. Biodiversity-rich countries need to collect and convert knowledge from biological resources into processes, compounds, methods, and tools, which need to be achieved along with sustainable use and exploitation of biological diversity. Therefore, this paper describes the relevant reported green synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles from plant extracts and their capacity as antimicrobial agents within the agricultural field for fighting against bacterial and fungal pathogens that can cause plant, waterborne, and foodborne diseases. Moreover, this work makes a brief review of nanoparticles’ contribution to water treatment and the development of “environmentally-friendly” nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, and nanoherbicides, as well as presenting the harmful effects of nanoparticles accumulation in plants and soils.

Information as the latest site of conflict in the ongoing contests about access to and sharing the benefits from exploiting genetic resources

The global movement and use of genetic resources remain vital to sustaining humankind. An enclosure or re-appropriation of these resources requiring regulated access and benefit sharing is evolving under the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity and related instruments. The potential to replace the physical materials with information about those materials, including genetic sequence data, has fractured the carefully negotiated benefit sharing regulation complex. This article re-engages with this original grand bargain of access in exchange for benefit sharing, and the imperatives of transferring financial resources and technology from the technologically advanced countries of the North to the biodiversity-rich countries of the South. Public access database terms and conditions (as opposed to public domain) and collecting societies are some of the elegant legal solutions and mechanisms to address concerns about dematerialization under the current contractual approach to benefit sharing. This article concludes, however, that the tension between enclosure of information as the genetic resource and legal information sharing requirements needs more nuanced forms of benefit sharing such as taxes or levies. This is necessary to facilitate movement of not only the physical materials but also information in the access and benefit sharing bargain.

Three challenges to contemporaneous taxonomy from a licheno-mycological perspective

This paper discusses three issues that challenge contemporaneous taxonomy, with examples from the fields of mycology and lichenology, formulated as three questions: (1) What is the importance of taxonomy in contemporaneous and future science and society? (2) An increasing methodological gap in alpha taxonomy: challenge or opportunity? (3) The Nagoya Protocol: improvement or impediment to the science of taxonomy? The importance of taxonomy in society is illustrated using the example of popular field guides and digital media, a billion-dollar business, arguing that the desire to name species is an intrinsic feature of the cognitive component of nature connectedness of humans. While continuous societal support of a critical mass of taxonomists is necessary to catalogue all species on Earth, it is shown that this is a finite task, and a proposal is made how a remaining 10 million species can be catalogued within 40 years by 1,000 well-trained and dedicated taxonomists, with an investment of $4 billion, corresponding to 0.0001% of the annual global GDP or 0.005% of annual military expenditures. Notorious undercitation of actually used taxonomic resources and lack of coverage of impact metrics for monographs and other taxonomic work that cannot be published in indexed journals is discussed and suggestions are made how this problem can be remedied. An increasing methodological gap in approaches to taxonomy, between classic morphological and advanced genomic studies, affects in particular taxonomists in biodiversity-rich countries and amateurs, also regarding proper training to apply advanced methods and concepts. To counterbalance this problem, international collaborations bringing different expertise to the table and undertaking mutual capacitation are one successful remedy. Classic taxonomy still works for many groups and is a first approach to catalogue species and establish taxon hypotheses, but ultimately each taxonomic group needs to be studied with the array of methods proper to the group, including descriptive work. Finally, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol has put additional burden on basic biodiversity science. Using lichenology in Latin America and Brazil as an example, it is shown that the spirit of non-monetary benefit-sharing proper to taxonomy and systematics, namely capacitation, joint publications, and shared reference collections, has been increasingly implemented long before the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol, and does not need additional “policing”. Indeed, the Nagoya Protocol puts the heaviest burden on taxonomy and researchers cataloguing biodiversity, whereas for the intended target group, namely those seeking revenue gain from nature, the protocol may not actually work effectively. The notion of currently freely accessible digital sequence information (DSI) to become subject to the protocol, even after previous publication, is misguided and conflicts with the guidelines for ethical scientific conduct. Through its implementation of the Nagoya Protocol, Colombia has set a welcome precedence how to exempt taxonomic and systematic research from “access to genetic resources”, and hopefully other biodiversity-rich countries will follow this example.