Insects of Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea - volume 2

0534709 - BC 2021 RIV FR eng M - Monography Chapter
Leponce, M. - Pascal, O. - Basset, Yves - Novotný, Vojtěch
Organizing large-scale inventories of biodiversity in the tropics: the genesis and lessons of the project Our Planet Reviewed Papua New Guinea – land component.
Insects of Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea - volume 2. Paříž: Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 2020 - (Robillard, T.; Legendre, F.; Villemant, C.; Leponce, M.), s. 11-40. ISBN 978-2-85653-836-4
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GB14-36098G; GA ČR(CZ) GX19-28126X
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : biodiversity * elevation gradients * rainforests
OECD category: Ecology

Large-scale biodiversity inventories are useful for identifying the wide range of components of the forest ecosystem, which is a necessary step in understanding how they function and how they respond to environmental and climate changes. They require the coordination of large teams of experts in the collection and study of a huge variety of taxa surveyed. Here we use the project “Our Planet Reviewed – Papua New Guinea”, assessing the biological diversity along a rainforest elevational gradient, as an example to illustrate the challenges of implementing such large-scale studies. We also draw lessons for future similar inventories. The project implementation follows a 10-step standard process: (1) design of the scientific program and aims (often a trade-off between feasible sampling effort and sample representativeness), (2) fundraising from public and private funders, (3) reconnaissance missions and partnerships with local stakeholders, (4) constitution of the field and laboratory research teams, (5) obtaining research and collecting authorizations, (6) preparation of the main survey, including botanical inventories, building insect traps and testing sampling protocols, (7) main survey, i.e. collection of specimens with standardized mass collection methods, (8) on-site pre-processing of the material by para-taxonomists and students to higher taxonomic levels (e.g. orders) and exporting specimens, (9) finer sorting (e.g. to family level) by Taxonomic Working Group (« TWiG ») leaders and dispatching of specimens to experts for identification to (morpho-)species level, (10) centralization of data in a collective database. Our experience shows that the main bottleneck in the data flow is the processing of the huge quantity of collected specimens in stages 8, 9 or 10. Solutions include securing sufficient funding for this critical step, training local para-taxonomists to assist main investigators and focusing on a limited number of informative yet tractable taxa. These inventories play an important role as the first step towards habitat conservation, demonstrating their value for biodiversity and providing sustainable local employment when research projects are continued, as is the case at Mount Wilhelm.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0317362