From species descriptions to diversity patterns: the validation of taxonomic data as a keystone for ant diversity studies reproducibility and accuracy
Abstrak
Research findings in natural sciences need to be comparable and reproducible to effectively improve our understanding of ecological and behavioural patterns. In this sense, knowledge frontiers in biodiversity studies are directly tied to taxonomic research, especially in species-rich tropical regions. Here we analysed the taxonomic information available in 470 studies on Brazilian ant diversity published in the last 50 years. We aimed to quantify the proportion of studies that provide enough data to validate taxonomic identification, explore the frequency of studies that properly acknowledge their taxonomic background, and investigate the primary resources for ant identification in Brazil. We found that most studies on Brazilian ant diversity (73.6%) explicitly stated the methods used to identify their specimens. However, the proportion of papers that provide complete data for the repository institutions and vouchered specimens is vanishingly small (5.8%). Additionally, only 40.0% of the studies consistently presented taxon authorities and years of description, rarely referencing taxonomic publications correctly. In turn, the number of specialists and institutions consulted for ant identification in Brazil has increased in the last years, along with the number of studies that explicitly provide their taxonomic procedures for ant identification. Our findings highlight a shift between generations regarding the recognition of taxonomy as fundamental science, deepening our understanding of biodiversity.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (39)
Rodrigo M. Feitosa
Thiago S. R. Silva
Gabriela P. Camacho
Mônica A. Ulysséa
Natalia Ladino
Aline M. Oliveira
Emília Z. de Albuquerque
Carla R. Ribas
Fernando A. Schmidt
Maria Santina de C. Morini
Rogério R. da Silva
Wesley Dáttilo
Antônio C. M. de Queiroz
Fabrício B. Baccaro
Jean C. Santos
Karine S. Carvalho
Tathiana G. Sobrinho
Yves P. Quinet
Aline B. Moraes
André B. Vargas
Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi
Jorge Luiz P. Souza
Tatianne Marques
Thiago Izzo
Denise Lange
Iracenir A. dos Santos
Kleber Del-Claro
Larissa Nahas
Lucas Paolucci
Stela A. Soares
Ana Y. Harada
Ananza M. Rabello
Cinthia B. da Costa-Milanez
Eduardo Diehl-Fleig
Renata B. F. Campos
Ricardo Solar
Tiago Frizzo
Wesley DaRocha
Anselmo Nogueira
Format Sitasi
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2023
- Sumber Database
- DOAJ
- DOI
- 10.1098/rsos.221170
- Akses
- Open Access ✓