This EPBRS e-conference on “Strategies for Taxonomy: Research in a Changing World” focused on ide... more This EPBRS e-conference on “Strategies for Taxonomy: Research in a Changing World” focused on identifying the key research questions allowing taxonomy to address policy needs in a better way and, vice versa, allowing policy makers to get responses from taxonomists on specific subjects related to the use of taxonomic knowledge. Taxonomy, as a collectively assembled ‘Body of Knowledge’ formally started with the work of Linnaeus, is the most comprehensive and reliable source of information about biodiversity today. This includes specimen collections, character descriptions, geographic distributions, occurrence details, classification system(s), and links to associated information in literature and other resources. This accumulated ‘Body of Knowledge’ is well structured around the Linnaean system and is our baseline knowledge to monitor changes in biodiversity. Although there are few doubts that taxonomic information is essential for reliable environmental science, applied users often complain about the inability to get adequate access to taxonomic information to respond to -for instance- the biodiversity crisis. This ‘taxonomic impediment’ is recognised within taxonomy by currently attempting to expand its capacity to explore and accommodate more species and to improve the dissemination and use of taxonomic information on the internet. Due to these internal and external constraints, pushing taxonomy to advance its working routines and support the applied use of taxonomic information, taxonomy stands, at the moment, at a crossroads. Therefore it is critical for policy makers to make the right decisions for the future of taxonomy, now. This should, for instance, balance not only the emphasis stakeholders, researchers and society often place on new technologies and research tools but also the maintenance of core taxonomic research respecting the often exceptional level of expertise needed to explore and recognise species diversity. Finding the right connection between taxonomists and policy makers is complicated because of the different intermediate parties (e.g. data centres, agencies and stakeholders) frequently obscuring a profound understanding of the relevance of taxonomy for biodiversity assessments for policy makers, but also hampering a closer commitment of taxonomists to fundamental questions on what information is needed (at what level and at what depth) for policy makers to make the right decisions. I hope this e-conference has contributed to a better understanding among decision makers and taxonomists of the relevant scientific priorities for future strategic policy plans.
almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study south-eastern Senegal. of their feeding, ranging ... more almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study south-eastern Senegal. of their feeding, ranging he Guinea or Western baboon, Papio papio, was natural environment. This thesis reports a of two troops of P. papio carried out in The monkeys were followed on foot, and aspects and social behaviour were recorded. The troops were censused whenever possible. Both study troops, and other troops in the area, were found to be unusually large by comparison with other known troops in the genus, and although their age-sex compositions were not exceptional, there was some indication that recruitment into the adult population was low. The activity budgets of both troops were similar, and members of
Experimental studies of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in microc... more Experimental studies of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in microcosms and field mesocosms (1-3) have indicated positive relationships between species richness and net primary production (NPP), but these results have been criticized as being artifacts of the experimental designs (4-7). This paper provides empirical support for the diversity/NPP link at three spatial scales. Using a multiple regression analysis at the “site” scale for a range of sites in North America, vascular plant species richness ...
... Study group size plotted against mean group size for the population from which it is drawn fo... more ... Study group size plotted against mean group size for the population from which it is drawn for 22 field studies of baboons (genus Papio). ... Whenever a dependent variable is subject to the influence of both environmental and demo-graphic factors, then the effects of the latter will ...
Research on biodiversity is essential to help the European Union and EU Member States to implemen... more Research on biodiversity is essential to help the European Union and EU Member States to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as reach the target of halting the loss of biodiversity in Europe by 2010. The need for coordination between researchers, the policy-makers that need research results and the organisations that fund research is reflected in the aims of the "European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy" (EPBRS), a forum of scientists and policy makers representing the EU countries, whose aims are to promote discussion of EU biodiversity research strategies and priorities, to exchange information on national biodiversity activities and to disseminate current best practices and information regarding the scientific understanding of biodiversity conservation. This is a report of the E-Conference entitled "Strategies in Taxonomy: Research in a Changing World" preceding the EPBRS meeting to be held under the Czech Republic EU presidency in Pruhonice, Czech Republic, from the 19th to the 22nd of May 2009.
and SummaryWe evaluate the claim that social grooming is altruistic because it occupies time that... more and SummaryWe evaluate the claim that social grooming is altruistic because it occupies time that could otherwise be spent feeding. Time spent feeding is shown (1) to be correlated negatively with time spent resting and (2) not to be correlated with social time for two genera of Old World monkeys. Social time thus tends to be conserved in the face of increasing demand for feeding time at the expense of resting time. This suggests either that the altruistic costs of grooming are trivial or that grooming is more valuable to the groomer in terms of benefits to be derived from, for example, the formation and maintenance of alliances.ZusammenfassungWir prüfen die These, daß soziale Körperpflege altruistisch sei, weil sie Zeit erfordert, die zur Nahrungsuche verwendet werden könnte. An zwei Gattungen von Altweltaffen wird gezeigt, daß 1. die Zeit für Nahrungsuche negativ korreliert ist mit der Ruhezeit und 2. nicht korreliert ist mit der “Sozialzeit”. Muß mehr Zeit für die Nahrungsuche ve...
Before this study, C almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study southeastern Senegal. of the... more Before this study, C almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study southeastern Senegal. of their feeding, ranging he Guinea or Western baboon, Papio papio, was natural environment. This thesis reports a of two troops of P. papio carried out in The monkeys were followed on foot, and aspects and social behaviour were recorded. The troops were censused whenever possible. Both study troops, and submit the accompanying thesis in application for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Gaia Okologische Perspektiven in Natur Geistes Und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, 2012
ABSTRACT Wicked problems are not solvable with established methods. They require unprecedented so... more ABSTRACT Wicked problems are not solvable with established methods. They require unprecedented solutions that can only be realised by thinking outside the box. Because a solution to a problem depends on how the latter is identified and defined, understanding and treating biodiversity loss as a wicked problem is a first crucial step in tackling it. Stopping biodiversity loss is not going to be easy, but is achievable. The key ingredients are taking personal responsibility, use of multidisciplinary approaches, and development of institutions.
This EPBRS e-conference on “Strategies for Taxonomy: Research in a Changing World” focused on ide... more This EPBRS e-conference on “Strategies for Taxonomy: Research in a Changing World” focused on identifying the key research questions allowing taxonomy to address policy needs in a better way and, vice versa, allowing policy makers to get responses from taxonomists on specific subjects related to the use of taxonomic knowledge. Taxonomy, as a collectively assembled ‘Body of Knowledge’ formally started with the work of Linnaeus, is the most comprehensive and reliable source of information about biodiversity today. This includes specimen collections, character descriptions, geographic distributions, occurrence details, classification system(s), and links to associated information in literature and other resources. This accumulated ‘Body of Knowledge’ is well structured around the Linnaean system and is our baseline knowledge to monitor changes in biodiversity. Although there are few doubts that taxonomic information is essential for reliable environmental science, applied users often complain about the inability to get adequate access to taxonomic information to respond to -for instance- the biodiversity crisis. This ‘taxonomic impediment’ is recognised within taxonomy by currently attempting to expand its capacity to explore and accommodate more species and to improve the dissemination and use of taxonomic information on the internet. Due to these internal and external constraints, pushing taxonomy to advance its working routines and support the applied use of taxonomic information, taxonomy stands, at the moment, at a crossroads. Therefore it is critical for policy makers to make the right decisions for the future of taxonomy, now. This should, for instance, balance not only the emphasis stakeholders, researchers and society often place on new technologies and research tools but also the maintenance of core taxonomic research respecting the often exceptional level of expertise needed to explore and recognise species diversity. Finding the right connection between taxonomists and policy makers is complicated because of the different intermediate parties (e.g. data centres, agencies and stakeholders) frequently obscuring a profound understanding of the relevance of taxonomy for biodiversity assessments for policy makers, but also hampering a closer commitment of taxonomists to fundamental questions on what information is needed (at what level and at what depth) for policy makers to make the right decisions. I hope this e-conference has contributed to a better understanding among decision makers and taxonomists of the relevant scientific priorities for future strategic policy plans.
almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study south-eastern Senegal. of their feeding, ranging ... more almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study south-eastern Senegal. of their feeding, ranging he Guinea or Western baboon, Papio papio, was natural environment. This thesis reports a of two troops of P. papio carried out in The monkeys were followed on foot, and aspects and social behaviour were recorded. The troops were censused whenever possible. Both study troops, and other troops in the area, were found to be unusually large by comparison with other known troops in the genus, and although their age-sex compositions were not exceptional, there was some indication that recruitment into the adult population was low. The activity budgets of both troops were similar, and members of
Experimental studies of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in microc... more Experimental studies of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in microcosms and field mesocosms (1-3) have indicated positive relationships between species richness and net primary production (NPP), but these results have been criticized as being artifacts of the experimental designs (4-7). This paper provides empirical support for the diversity/NPP link at three spatial scales. Using a multiple regression analysis at the “site” scale for a range of sites in North America, vascular plant species richness ...
... Study group size plotted against mean group size for the population from which it is drawn fo... more ... Study group size plotted against mean group size for the population from which it is drawn for 22 field studies of baboons (genus Papio). ... Whenever a dependent variable is subject to the influence of both environmental and demo-graphic factors, then the effects of the latter will ...
Research on biodiversity is essential to help the European Union and EU Member States to implemen... more Research on biodiversity is essential to help the European Union and EU Member States to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as reach the target of halting the loss of biodiversity in Europe by 2010. The need for coordination between researchers, the policy-makers that need research results and the organisations that fund research is reflected in the aims of the "European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy" (EPBRS), a forum of scientists and policy makers representing the EU countries, whose aims are to promote discussion of EU biodiversity research strategies and priorities, to exchange information on national biodiversity activities and to disseminate current best practices and information regarding the scientific understanding of biodiversity conservation. This is a report of the E-Conference entitled "Strategies in Taxonomy: Research in a Changing World" preceding the EPBRS meeting to be held under the Czech Republic EU presidency in Pruhonice, Czech Republic, from the 19th to the 22nd of May 2009.
and SummaryWe evaluate the claim that social grooming is altruistic because it occupies time that... more and SummaryWe evaluate the claim that social grooming is altruistic because it occupies time that could otherwise be spent feeding. Time spent feeding is shown (1) to be correlated negatively with time spent resting and (2) not to be correlated with social time for two genera of Old World monkeys. Social time thus tends to be conserved in the face of increasing demand for feeding time at the expense of resting time. This suggests either that the altruistic costs of grooming are trivial or that grooming is more valuable to the groomer in terms of benefits to be derived from, for example, the formation and maintenance of alliances.ZusammenfassungWir prüfen die These, daß soziale Körperpflege altruistisch sei, weil sie Zeit erfordert, die zur Nahrungsuche verwendet werden könnte. An zwei Gattungen von Altweltaffen wird gezeigt, daß 1. die Zeit für Nahrungsuche negativ korreliert ist mit der Ruhezeit und 2. nicht korreliert ist mit der “Sozialzeit”. Muß mehr Zeit für die Nahrungsuche ve...
Before this study, C almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study southeastern Senegal. of the... more Before this study, C almost unknown in its ninteen-month field study southeastern Senegal. of their feeding, ranging he Guinea or Western baboon, Papio papio, was natural environment. This thesis reports a of two troops of P. papio carried out in The monkeys were followed on foot, and aspects and social behaviour were recorded. The troops were censused whenever possible. Both study troops, and submit the accompanying thesis in application for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Gaia Okologische Perspektiven in Natur Geistes Und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, 2012
ABSTRACT Wicked problems are not solvable with established methods. They require unprecedented so... more ABSTRACT Wicked problems are not solvable with established methods. They require unprecedented solutions that can only be realised by thinking outside the box. Because a solution to a problem depends on how the latter is identified and defined, understanding and treating biodiversity loss as a wicked problem is a first crucial step in tackling it. Stopping biodiversity loss is not going to be easy, but is achievable. The key ingredients are taking personal responsibility, use of multidisciplinary approaches, and development of institutions.
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Papers by Martin Sharman