Guido is certainly rigth. In the time when words such as "biodiversity" and
"ecosystems" have become of lage usage (and so abused ...) the world is
loosing the key to know, understand, protect and finally manage the very
taxonomic biodiversity. Specialists are the species actually most
endangered. Being a specialist of a group in not useful for the academic
promotion as is being able to raise funds. And raising funding for
taxonomic inventorying for instance is a very hard task. Thus where is the
utility of being a specialist in Assimineidae?
And when we realize that our knowledge of the actual numbers of the
biodiversity (the number of species living on our planet) if very far from
being satisfactory ...... The great gaps are just iun those goup where the
specialists are missing.




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Marco Oliverio - Evolutionary Biology PhD
Research Scientist

Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell'Uomo
Viale dell'Universita' 32
I-00185 Roma   ITALY

phone  +39.06.49914307
FAX    +39.06.4958259
e-mail: [log in to unmask]