Taxonomic（分类的） descriptions, introduced by Linnaeus in 1735, are designed to allow scientists to tell one species from another. Now there is a new futuristic（未来派飞） method for describing new species that goes far beyond the tradition. The new approach combines several techniques, including next generation molecular¹ methods, barcoding, and novel computing² and imaging technologies, that will test the model for big data collection, storage and management in biology. The study has just been published in the Biodiversity Data Journal.

 

While 13,494 new animal species were discovered by taxonomists（分类学家） in 2012, animal diversity on the planet continues to decline with unprecedented³ speed. Concerned with the rapid disappearance⁴ rates scientists have been forced towards a so called 'turbo taxonomy' approach, where rapid species description is needed to manage conservation.

 

While acknowledging the necessity of fast descriptions, the authors of the new study present the other 'extreme' for taxonomic description: "a new species of the future." An international team of scientists from Bulgaria, Croatia, China, UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Greece and Germany illustrated⁵ a holistic⁶ approach to the description of the new cave dwelling⁷ centipede species Eupolybothrus cavernicolus, recently discovered in a remote karst region of Croatia. The project was a collaboration⁸ between GigaScience, China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen and Pensoft Publishers.

 

Eupolybothrus cavernicolus has become the first eukaryotic species for which, in addition to the traditional morphological description, scientists have provided a transcriptomic profile, DNA⁹ barcoding data, detailed¹⁰ anatomical X-ray microtomography (micro-CT), and a movie of the living specimen¹¹ to document important traits of its behaviour. By employing micro-CT scanning in a new species, for the first time a high-resolution morphological and anatomical dataset is created -- the 'cybertype' giving everyone virtual access to the specimen.

 

"Communicating the results of next generation sequencing effectively requires the next generation of data publishing" says Prof. Lyubomir Penev, Managing director of Pensoft Publishers. "It is not sufficient just to collect 'big' data. The real challenge comes at the point when data should be managed, stored, handled, peer-reviewed, published and distributed in a way that allows for re-use in the coming big data world," concluded Prof. Penev.

 

"Next generation sequencing is moving beyond piecing together a species genetic¹² blueprint¹³ to areas such as biodiversity research, with mass collections of species in "metabarcoding" surveys bringing genomics, monitoring of ecosystems¹⁴ and species-discovery closer together. This example attempts to integrate data from these different sources, and through curation in BGI and GigaScience's GigaDB database to make it interoperable（彼此协作的） and much more usable," says Dr Scott Edmunds from BGI and Executive Editor of GigaScience.

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