ERMS: The ultimate beachcombers' guide for experts
Researchers working on the European register of marine species (ERMS) project have announced the successful compilation of an impressive list of 29,713 species - significantly more than they had originally hoped. The list can now be used to stimulate revisions of species groups and provide a starting point for revising and expanding future lists, the team reports. The register has been compiled over two years, funded as a concerted action project under the European Union's MAST research programme. Its goal has been to identify gaps in knowledge of marine species, the breadth of coverage of identification guides, availability of taxonomists, and problems with collections of marine species. The resulting ERMS includes a list of marine species in Europe, a bibliography of marine species identification guides, a survey of species identification and taxonomic expertise, and a survey of the state of marine species collections in Europe. The review of 842 identification guides revealed that more guides detail species in the northern European seas than in the south, even though there is more diversity in southern waters. It also found that only 'adequate' identification guides were available for fish in all of Europe's seas. The researchers believe this highlights a need for new guides for species rich but smaller sized taxa (groups of species). The ERMS experts database now includes some 600 experts in marine identification and the team has secured fresh funding from the EU to develop its network of expertise. One aspect of this part of the research which the researchers remarked on in particular is that there is no direct correlation between the number of experts of a particular taxon and the number of species in that taxon 'It was evident that some taxa with thousands of species have relatively few taxonomists,' they report. In addition, the ERMS survey of collections of marine species in Europe revealed that more funding is essential if knowledge on and availability of collections is to be published on the Internet. A survey of the characteristics of some 80 collections, including their size and geographic scope revealed a common problem of insufficient resources to maintain collections as curators wished, reports the ERMS team. In order to address the issue of ownership and long-term management of the plethora of data from the ERMS project (some 23 organisations in ten EU Member States and over 170 scientists from 18 countries participated), the contributors have set up a new scientific society of which they are all automatically members for life. The 'society for the management of European biodiversity data' will be run by an elected council. ERMS hopes the organisation may help solve problems associated with managing species databases when the availability of experts is unpredictable. 'The ERMS project has produced the first ever checklist of marine species in Europe, yet more species remain to be discovered,' say the researchers. '[...] It is apparent that there is insufficient expertise in several species-rich taxa, indeed the same taxa where new species are predicted to be discovered. Future funding should prioritise research on the species rich, under-studied taxa so as to produce a more comprehensive set of marine species identification guides for European marine research and management. The ERMS checklist should also be updated and expanded to cover gaps in coverage of some taxa and provide more information, especially on species names and distribution.'