Systema Naturae 250 - The Linnaean Ark

The advent of relational data basing and data storage capacity, coupled with revolutionary advances in molecular sequencing technology and specimen imaging, have led to a taxonomic renaissance. This volume maps the origins of this renaissance, beginning with Linnaeus, through his "apostles", via the great unsung hero Charles Davies Sherbon - arguably the father of bioinformatics - up to the present day with the Planetary Biodiversity Inventories and into the future with the Encyclopedia of Life and web-based taxonomy. It provides scientific, historical, and cultural documentation of the evolution of taxonomy and the successful adaptation of the Linnean nomenclature system to that evolution.

The Major Historical Trends of Biodiversity Studies, E.O. Wilson Linnaeus: A Passion for Order, D. Quammen Daniel Rolander: The Invisible Naturalist, J. Dobreff Taxonomy and the Survival of Threatened Animal Species: A Matter of Life and Death, G. McGregor Reid Engineering a Linnaean Ark of Knowledge for a Deluge of Species, Q.D. Wheeler Historical Name-Bearing Types in Marine Molluscs: An Impediment to Biodiversity Studies? P. Bouchet and E.E. Strong Flying after Linnaeus: Diptera Names since Systema Naturae (1758), N.L. Evenhuis, T. Pape, A.C. Pont, and F.C. Thompson e-Publish or Perish? S. Knapp and D. Wright Reviving Descriptive Taxonomy after 250 Years: Promising Signs from a Mega-Journal in Taxonomy, Z.-Q. Zhang Provisional Nomenclature: The On-Ramp to Taxonomic Names, D.E. Schindel and S.E. Miller Future Taxonomy, D.J. Patterson The Encyclopedia of Life: A New Digital Resource for Taxonomy, J. Hanken Future Taxonomy Today: New Tools Applied to Accelerate the Taxonomic Process, N.F. Johnson The All Genera Index: Strategies for Managing the BIG Index of All Scientific Names, D. Remsen Linnaeus--Sherborn--ZooBank, A. Polaszek and E. Michel ZooBank: Reviewing the First Year and Preparing for the Next 250, R.L. Pyle and E. Michel Celebrating 250 Dynamic Years of Nomenclatural Debates, B. Dayrat 250 Years of Swedish Taxonomy, F. Ronquist Appendices Index