Summary of Species Discovery and Integrative Taxonomy

00:00:00 - 00:15:00

This video discusses the process of integrative taxonomy, which combines classical taxonomy with molecular data in order to assess biodiversity and create sound conservation efforts. The presenter explains how this process works and why it is important to focus on ecosystems over species.

• 00:00:00 Integrative taxonomy is a process of combining morphology (classical taxonomy) with molecular data, such as DNA barcodes, in order to faster assess biodiversity and come up with sound conservation efforts. In this process, the specimen is examined for notable features, such as the male genitalia, and photographs and drawings are taken to help clarify the image.
• 00:05:00 The presenter discusses species discovery and integrative taxonomy, providing an overview of species hypotheses based on morphology. They go on to discuss one possible species based on morphology, and how molecular data can be used to support this hypothesis. Finally, they discuss how molecular species hypotheses can be summarized using the term "motu".
• 00:10:00 This video discusses the different types of taxonomy, including morphotyping and integrative taxonomy. It explains that morphotyping is useful for identifying similar species, while integrative taxonomy combines morphological and molecular data to confirm a new species. In either case, discordant data can be resolved by re-evaluating the data using multiple methods. However, if the morphology and molecular data do not agree, the species is considered an "iota" for now and needs to be further studied. Finally, the presenter explains how to create an integrative operational taxonomic unit (iotus) for a newly discovered species, based on morphological and molecular data.
• 00:15:00 In this video, lecturers discuss sampling methods, sorting, documenting, and principles of writing for Integrative Taxonomy. They also mention the concept of species, and discuss why it is important to focus on ecosystems over species.