Format: ORAL

Olaf Bnki

Catalogue of Life, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Taxonomic name services are relevant in science to combine data from different sources. In fact, all information about a species is tied to its name. Usages extend beyond science to different domains, like legislation, health, nature management amongst others. A global consensus classification is also used for discovery and access to biodiversity data, such as in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (https://gbif.org), and for measuring the progress of implementing targets from international policy initiatives like the Convention on Biological Diversity. In its 27 years of existence, Catalogue of Life (COL; https://catalogueoflife.org) has created a global index of described organisms (Bánki et al. 2023). But taxonomy is dynamic and ever changing. Continuous effort by taxonomic communities is essential to keep up with new scientific insights. COL is supported by a community of more than 500 experts, who are acknowledged in the COL Checklist citation. Together with the World Flora Online (https://worldfloraonline.org), COL is aspiring to get towards a global consensus classification for plants. Filling gaps in plant taxonomic data and ensuring the highest data quality are essential for meeting user needs. The ChecklistBank infrastructure (https://checklistbank.org), a publishing platform for taxonomic data, is a helpful tool in overcoming challenges. It offers open access to data sources, and tools for comparing species lists amongst others.  We invite plant taxonomists to become part of the endeavour and help make the best possible taxonomic data available.  Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Vandepitte, L., Hobern, D., Schalk, P., DeWalt, R. E., Ma, K., Miller, J., Orrell, T., et al. (2023). Catalogue of Life Checklist (Version 2023-11-24). Catalogue of Life. https://doi.org/10.48580/dfgnm