
Our Discovery Mission
Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to discover and document all remaining Australian species of plants, animals, fungi and other organisms ... in a generation.
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Part 4 - Roundtables
Part 4 of this process will comprise a series of roundtables, each of which will consider and envision the support mechanisms, policies, programs and processes we will need in order to bring about the step change in species discovery required to achieve our mission goal.
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Two sessions are scheduled for each roundtable, to increase the chance that you will be able to find a session that suits. Each session is scheduled for 1.5 hours max.
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The roundtable chair will attend both sessions, but participants are expected to attend only one. After the sessions, the chair will synthesise the roundtable discussions into a recommendation document, which will be shared widely to ensure we capture all good ideas.
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To register for one or more roundtables, choose a session for each roundtable you wish to join (note that no sessions are concurrent), then provide your name, institution and email address and click Register. A tabular timetable is at the bottom of the page.
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Before joining your first roundtable, please watch the short introductory video at https://youtu.be/6mUDbvwC_1k – this explains the purpose of the roundtables and how we will all get the most from them.
Note: all session times below are in your local time.
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Roundtable timetable (week beginning 27 April 2020)
Note. Session times in this table are in Eastern Standard (Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart) times
Time
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
9:30 AM -11:00 AM
R1 Field campaigns
R6 New technologies
R5
Informatics
R2
Morphology
R8 Citizen Science
11:30 AM
-1:00 PM
R3 DNA & species delim.
R7 Current practices
R10
Collections
R9
Workforce
R4
Phylogenetics
1:30 PM
-3:00 PM
R2
Morphology
R8 Citizen Science
R1 Field
Campaigns
R6 New technologies
R5 Informatics
3:30 PM
-5:00 PM
R9
Workforce
R4
Phylogenetics
R3 DNA & species delim.
R7 Current Practice
R10
Collections
Roundtable 1: What field campaigns are we likely to need to support our mission?
Many un-named species are already represented in our collections, but others will not be, or still need more specimens. This roundtable will consider issues around field work, including:
Do we need to plan a field work campaign as part of this mission, or will field work be conducted on an as-needs basis?
What role could there be for the public and citizen science in field collecting?
If field work needs to be ramped up, should this happen early or late in the mission?
What types of support structures and programs should we build to support field collecting for our mission?
This roundtable will be led by
Ben Parslow
Choose a session below if you would like to join this roundtable
Sunday 26 April 2020
Wednesday 29 April 2020
11:30 pm
3:30 am
Roundtable 2: How can we most effectively use morphology for our mission?
Morphology obviously has a long history in species delimitation and discovery, but is being challenged now by DNA sequencing as a primary tool in some taxonomic groups. Some taxonomists support morphological-only taxonomy while other support DNA-only taxonomy. This roundtable will consider issues around morphology, including:
Why exactly does morphology remain important in this age of genetics and genomics?
Are we able to identify any taxonomic groups where we can say that morphology basically doesn't matter?
How can we improve the capture, handling and use of morphological (trait) information in the service of our mission?
This roundtable will be led by
Gerry Cassis
Choose a session below if you would like to join this roundtable
Monday 27 April 2020
Wednesday 29 April 2020
3:30 am
11:30 pm
Roundtable 3: How do we most effectively use DNA sequencing for rapid and robust species delimitation?
DNA sequencing will clearly play an important role in this mission - indeed, the mission would be impossible without it. Currently, some taxonomists have access to sequencing facilities while others do not, and some are skilled in all aspects of sequencing, bioinformatics and phylogenetics while others are not. This roundtable will consider issues around sequencing, including:
How can we ensure that sequencing speeds up, rather than slows down, species discovery and delimitation?
Should sequencing and bioinformatics support be more centralised or more dispersed than at present?
Should all taxonomists be trained in every step along the sequencing->bioinfoirmatics->phylogeny->species delimitation pipeline, or should we specialise more?
How do we best balance the roles of short, cheap, universal sequences (barcodes) versus longer, more expensive but more informative sequences (up to and including complete genomes)?
This roundtable will be led by
Michelle Waycott
Choose a session below if you would like to join this roundtable
Monday 27 April 2020
Wednesday 29 April 2020
1:30 am
5:30 am