Biodiversity Initiatives Make Good Use of Technology. (BioBriefs).(Brief Article)

A new megaproject, like the Human Genome Project only more ambitious, was launched at a summit recently held by the ALL Species Foundation, a group of prominent scientists and Silicon Valley visionaries (Science 294: 759-760). Their mission is to identify and count every living species on Earth within the next 25 years.

Whether or not it can be done is almost beside the point. Simply aiming for such a lofty goal could kindle the public's imagination and inspire many people to become naturalists or taxonomists, particularly in developing countries, where much of the funding will be spent.

"Voices in the taxonomic community have been promoting something similar [to an all-species inventory] for years," says Bruce Stein, vice president of programs for the nonprofit organization NatureServe. "In order for taxonomy to be perceived both as modern and as big science, it needs what the late John Sawhill, former head of The Nature Conservancy, used to call a 'big, hairy; audacious goal."'

NatureServe, one of many species-cataloging ventures already in progress, sprouted from the data-collecting endeavor begun more than 25 years ago by the Conservancy. To effectively target its conservation efforts, TNC worked with state agencies to establish inventory programs, called natural heritage programs, and coordinated their efforts by providing the tools, techniques, and software needed to network the databases. The natural heritage programs now operate in all 50 US states, 10 Canadian provinces, and about a dozen Latin American countries. Two years ago, TNC helped establish NatureServe to take over managing this effort, transferring over 65 members of its staff and an extensive set of biodiversity databases, and committing $35 million over seven years. Originally christened the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI), the organization changed its name in November to NatureServe to attract a broader audience.

In October 2000, NatureServe launched its flagship Web site, now known as NatureServe Explorer (www.natureserve.org). This well-organized, information-packed "online encyclopedia of life" is a searchable database comprising data gathered by NatureServe and its member programs ...