| CBD-CHM | Meetings | Case Studies | Taxonomy & Taxonomists | Archive | Links | Akronymes | Contact us / about usHow many taxonomists are there?
Based on the data and assumptions explained below I believe that there are4.000-6.000 professional taxonomists
and
30.000-40.000 amateur taxonomists.
There are about 2 mio. organisms described. However, how many describer, i.e. taxonomists are there? Reasonably exact figures exist only for single regions and taxa, apart from that some estimates are avavilable, but no global survey exists.
One of the issues is: What is a Taxonomist? There are many specialists and experts who have an excellent knowledge about this or that group of organism but who are never paid for their taxonomic expertise. Consequently they cannot invest their whole energy to this activity.
Amongst these specialists and experts are colleagues at universities and museums employed not for their taxonomic expertise but something completely different (this applies to this author). This is also apply for the classical amateurs persuing non-academic carriers.
Then, there are the learned societies for systematic biology or a group of organism, such as the Royal Entomological Society or the Systematic Association. However, not all of their members are experts for some organism, some of them are interested in supporting systematics, others are members of several societies.
For this webpage, I take a broad view and consider a taxonomist to be someone who has comprehensive knowledge of a taxon and a can identify the species of this taxon. If you have further definitions, I would be happy to include them!
| Someone, who | . | . |
| 1) describes species | but birds and mammals are almost all described | |
| 2) revises taxa | but taxa with well established taxonomy are rarely revised | |
| 3) works Code compliant | but it is difficult to establish if a work is Code compliant | |
| 4) has an academic education in taxonomy | but amateurs, but lack of university courses | |
| 5) has comprehensive knowledge of a taxon | but ecologists, ethologists and physiologists have comprehensive knowledge and will not consider themselves as taxonomist | |
| 6) can identify a group of organisms | but has no formal education and little knowledge of the Code | |
| 7) is paid for taxonomic work | but amateurs and university scientists, who are employed for teaching and non-taxonomic skills | |
| 8) is member of a systematic society | but supporters join these societies without having extensive knowledge and not all taxonomists join | |
| 9) is listed in a directory | but not all like to be registered | |
| is a taxonomist. | . | . |
The ETI in the Netherlands maintains the World Taxonomist Database with currently 4,100 entries. However, the entry is voluntarily and not all taxonomists have entered their name. This is the major reason for the discrepancies in the figures for the African taxonomists (see tables below).
Consequently, the single numbers are certainly (at least probably) correct, but do not give the complete picture of how many taxonomists there really are. It is evident, however, that texonomic experts form a small and highly specialised professional group.
What we also see from the figures below is that the number of available taxonomists in a country does not match the biodiversity present in that country: there are too many or too few taxonomists. This imbalance is addressed by some training programmes, e.g. by the Belgium GTI - NFP.
The data also show that it is not wrong to call taxonomists a species at the brink of extinction. 6,000 living specimens for a single verterbrate species are often reason for concern.
Essential reading.
Do the numbers decrease or increase?
The current numbers.
World
Another source, the Expert Centre for Taxonomic Identification ETI estimated the no. of experienced taxonomists to be around 5,000. Its database, the 'World Taxonomist Database', currently (July 2005) has, in any case, 4,144 persons registered, and can be search for single countries (211 in DE). The entry via the internet is done by the researcher himself and so the database is certainly not complete. However, as there are many entries, the relations between the countries should be realistic. The data in the tables below are taken from this source.Comparing this source and others sources for the whole world and single countries, e.g. Germany, we find that the numbers afre clearly inconcruent. reasons for this might be different definition of what a taxonomist is, the publication rate and a certain lack in communication skills of taxonomists.
The world distribution of taxonomists according to ETI's World Taxonomist Database (November 2005). For complementing and contradicting data see the following list.
NEW:: For fresh data on Brazil, follow the link!
The NSF Report "Directory of Zoological Taxonomists of the World" lists 9,000 people worldwide who consider themselfs to be zoological taxonomists. As stated in the introduction, it was not possible to judge the qualification of each and every person. So the authors relied on the 'self-assessment' of the asked persons.
According to data from GTI-DIVERSITAS (Implementing the GTI (2000) (SBSTTA-4-Inf-06)) the global number of taxonomists is about 18,000 professionals.
The Tree of Life grows by contributions of 422 scientists. The Coleopterists Society has 710 members worldwide (11 in DE). The records of the Dipterists' Directories has 3,187 (231 in DE) entries for persons, also worldwide. The botanical source, Index Herbariorum has 9,775 records for personel/staff listed in the herbaria of the world (241 in DE).
OceanExpert contains 10,418 records (183 in DE).
Edward O. Wilson mentions the number of 6,000 professional taxonomists (Trends in Ecology and Evolution: 18(2), 77-80).
All-Species-Org assumes a number of 10,000 taxonomists globally.
ALL CATFISH SPECIES INVENTORY: no. of taxonomist and students participating (200 participants from 31 countries; 7 in DE).
Asia
The Japanese GTI-Focal Point conducted a survey in Asia and found 1,011 scientist working taxonomically (replies came from institutions in Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesien, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philppines, Singapur, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam).The 'Database of Indian Taxonomists (DIT)' lists 156 taxonomists for India (according to the ETI, it is 131). However, according to TaiBIF there are 41 scientists reagarding themselfs as with taxonomic experts (according to the ETI, it is 109).
Australia
The Biodiversity Theme Report of Australian Government compares numbers of species and of taxonomists and lists 65 persons in Australia for Fungi and Plants, and 115 persons for the fauna (according to the ETI, it is 191). see also here ...Europe
NEW:: An older work by O. Kraus (1976) on Zoological Systematics in Central Europe lists approx. 700 zoological taxonomists in Central and Northern Europe. He also states that only 40% of these people publishe regularly and only 21% of the 700 listed persons are professionals. All others persue their taxonomic activities in addition to their paid work.
The 'Directory of German speaking Taxonomists and Systematists' lists (in July 2005), 559 persons, mainly form DE, CH, AT and NL, which consider themself as such persons. However, their professional status is not clear. The GfBS has 550 members.
The so-called 'Geisthard list' (Directory of Entomologists and Arachnologists) holds about 1,500 entries from the German speaking region. The DGaaE (German Entomological Society) has about 810 members, mainly from the German speaking region.
The Fauna Europaea had about 410 participating people (55 from DE).
The Swiss "Centre Suisse de Cartographie de la Faune" has knowledge of 696 taxonomists (understood in a broader sense).
The UK Systematics Forum lists 788 taxonomists.
North America
For the Fauna and Flora of British Columbia, Canada, a number of specialists are available: 13 for Protists, 25 for Plants (including 9 for Mosses, 1 for Ferns), 4 for Lichens and 60 for Fungi. There are 14 taxonomists for Fishes, 4 for Birds and 10 for Mammals and 130 for insects. In total there are 420 taxonomists. Source is the 'Directory of Experts in the Identification of British Columbia Species' available here.According to "The Systematics Community", North America has 8,000 to 10,000 taxonomists.
South America
From Brazil in Portuguese: Sistemática zoológica no Brasil: estado da arte, expectativas e sugestões de ações futuras. (48 pp, PDF download, 330 KB).
PROPOSTAS DE ESTRATÉGIAS E AÇÕES PARA A CONSOLIDAÇÃO DAS COLEÇÕES ZOOLÓGICAS BRASILEIRAS. (In Portugese, DOC download, 300 KB)
Major figures are in Tables 1 and 19: In Brazil there are 415 employed systematists plus 86 PhD employed systematists plus 2 employed masters plus 39 pensionists, giving a total of 542 zoological systematists. They are distributed among following invertebrate taxa: Crustacea 53 systematists, Mollusca 32, Plathyhelminthes 24, Cnidaria 20, Porifera 14, Annelida/Polychaeta 14, Nematoda 11, Acanthocephala 10. All the other invertebrates (without Hexapoda) are cared about by 44 people. Add to this the entomologists: Diptera 38, Hymenoptera 32, Coleoptera 31, Lepidoptera 13, Heteroptera 10, Homoptera 10. The remaining 27 systematists work on all the remaining insect 'orders'.
The vertebrates receive greater attention if the relation between species per researcher is considered: fishes 68 worker, mammals 25, Anuran amphibians 23, birds 17, serpents and snakes 15, all other vertebrates 11.
Unfortunately, no data are available for botanists. However, this number (542) is already much greater than the 171 scientics who registered in the ETI database. Thus this database, as supported by other numbers, underestimates the number of taxonomists.
From the report on the STATUS OF TAXONOMY AND TAXONOMIC CAPACITY-BUILDING ACTIVITIES IN COLOMBIA by John D. Lynch we learn that there are 10 entomologists, 10 vertebrate specialist, 1 fungi expert, no algae expert, 24 plant experts and 4 non-insect invertebrate taxonomist in Colombia. (See BioNET-ANDINONET page under "REPORTE NACIONAL"). (According to the ETI, it is 31).
In Peru there are 75 botanists, 17 zoologists and 10 people for Arthropods and other invertebrates. (See BioNET-ANDINONET page under "REPORTE NACIONAL"). (According to the ETI, it is 12).In Venezuela there are 77 botanists, 24 zoologists and 37 people for Arthropods and other invertebrates. (See BioNET-ANDINONET page under "REPORTE NACIONAL"). (According to the ETI, it is 32).
In Bolivia there are 44 botanists, 16 zoologists and 21 people for Entomology. (See BioNET-ANDINONET page under "REPORTE NACIONAL"). (According to the ETI, it is 6).
Press Articles
The Species Race: The world is losing plants faster than scientists can find them. The Virginia Stuart, refers to a publication by James Blackburn in Science, suggesting that there are 7,000 active taxonomists.
Taxonomists: The Unsung Heroes of Our Quest to Save Biodiversity
The tables and comparison of data.
Taxonomists in Germany or German speaking countries according to different sources.
| Source | Geisthardt list | Verzeichnis deutschsprachiger Taxonomen und Systematiker | GfBS | DGaaE | Fauna Europaea |
| No. | 1500 | 559 | 550 | 810 | 55 |
| Expertise | Entomologist | Taxonomists | Taxonomists | Entomologist | All animals |
| Source | ETI/WTD | Coleopterists Society | Dipterists' Directories | Index Herbariorum | OceanExpert |
| No. | 211 | 11 | 231 | 241 | 183 |
| Expertise | All organisms | Beetles | Flies | All plants | All marine organisms |
The numbers are cleary contradictory and inconcruent.
| Countries with strong taxonomic tradition, but low biodiversity
(data from the ETI database). |
Mega-diverse countries
(data from the ETI database). |
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| Taxonomists in Africa
from Strelitzia 12 (2001): The Global Taxonomy Initiative: documenting the biodiversity of Africa, and the ETI database. |
Numbers from the Report to the SBSTTA collected by the first Asian-Pacific regional GTI - Workshop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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No data for single countries available yet. Database of Indian Ocean Taxonomists (DIOT)
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The Zoological Record provided following numbers, with an important restriction:
"Note that where a paper is authored by 4 people, this will score a count of 4 in the author counts. Where the same 4 people author 2 separate articles, this will score 8."
Furthermore, non-taxonomists will be authors on papers indexed by ZooRec, and not all indexed contributions are strictly taxonomical.
Assuming a taxonmists publishes once a year, then the number of people should be around 8,000-9,000.
| Publication year | Author Count | Articles | Authors/Article |
| 1978 | 11076 | 8010 | 1,38 |
| 1979 | 12001 | 8567 | 1,40 |
| 1980 | 12702 | 8955 | 1,42 |
| 1981 | 12924 | 9153 | 1,41 |
| 1982 | 12486 | 8766 | 1,42 |
| 1983 | 12455 | 8493 | 1,47 |
| 1984 | 13759 | 9484 | 1,45 |
| 1985 | 13600 | 9195 | 1,48 |
| 1986 | 14609 | 9853 | 1,48 |
| 1987 | 14397 | 9507 | 1,51 |
| 1988 | 14502 | 9506 | 1,53 |
| 1989 | 14384 | 9379 | 1,53 |
| 1990 | 14675 | 9454 | 1,55 |
| 1991 | 14271 | 8961 | 1,59 |
| 1992 | 15057 | 9336 | 1,61 |
| 1993 | 15476 | 9517 | 1,63 |
| 1994 | 14788 | 8943 | 1,65 |
| 1995 | 15438 | 9143 | 1,69 |
| 1996 | 15886 | 9248 | 1,72 |
| 1997 | 16182 | 9192 | 1,76 |
| 1998 | 17218 | 9556 | 1,80 |
| 1999 | 16737 | 9187 | 1,82 |
| 2000 | 19300 | 9947 | 1,94 |
| 2001 | 21090 | 10496 | 2,01 |
| 2002 | 21071 | 10198 | 2,07 |
| 2003 | 19439 | 8857 | 2,19 |
| TOTAL | 395523 | 240903 | . |
| in average:
TOTAL/YEARS |
15821 | . | . |
Page compiled by Fabian Haas.
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