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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How on Earth are we going to do this?

A key recommended strategic action in the decadal plan for taxonomy and biosystematics in Australia and New Zealand 2018-2027 is for a substantial acceleration in the discovery and documentation of new species:

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Strategic action 1.1 We will significantly increase the rate at which new species in Australia and New Zealand

are discovered, resolved, named and documented.

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To achieve this strategic action, Taxonomy Australia and the Australian taxonomy and biosystematic sector are working, with support from the Ian Potter Foundation, the Australian Academy of Science, and a range of partner organisations, to prepare for launch a grand science mission to discover and document all remaining Australian species in a generation.

In April and May 2020, Taxonomy Australia hosted a national meeting, in the form of a series of online presentations, forums, whiteboards, workshops, roundtables and panel discussions, to workshop, discuss and develop a roadmap to prepare for launch this ambitious mission. More background to the proposed mission is available here.

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There were several parts to the national meeting, as follows:

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Part 1 comprised an introduction to the workshop, its context, background, intent and desired outcomes.

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Part 2 was a virtual symposium, a series of presentations addressing the challenges and opportunities for greatly accelerated taxonomy in different taxonomic groups.

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Part 3 was a whiteboarding or brainstorming exercise in preparation for Part 4, a series of online roundtable breakouts, each covering one aspect of taxonomy and our mission. Wrap-up presentations from the roundtables can be viewed here.

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Part 5 comprised a synthesis and identification of next steps towards the development of a detailed plan for a high-throughput taxonomic pipeline and a roadmap for how to get there.

This national meeting was open to anyone with an interest in taxonomy and biosystematics and the discovery, delimitation, naming and documentation of Australia's biodiversity.

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