Identification crisis: a fauna-wide estimate of biodiversity expertise shows massive decline in a Central European country

Abstract Expertise in biodiversity research (taxonomy, faunistics, conservation with taxonomic background) appears to decline worldwide. While the “taxonomic impediment” is discussed extensively in the literature, much fewer papers focus on the identification crisis, i.e., the decreasing number of experts who can identify species, and the decline of species-based biodiversity research. As a test case to explore the gravity of the identification crisis, we chose Hungary, a Central European country with a strong history of comprehensive taxonomic expertise and research output. We set out to answer two main questions. (1) What proportion of the Hungarian fauna could currently be identified by Hungarian experts, and what factors determine which groups are covered; and (2) what are the trends of biodiversity research in Hungary, and what are the underlying reasons for these trends? We show that Hungary lacks active biodiversity experts for almost half of the nearly 36,000 animal species recorded in the country, and more than a quarter of the fauna have only one or two active experts available. We also show that faunistic research experienced a golden era between ca. 1990 and 2010. Since then, however, there has been a strong decline, with the number of active experts and published papers decreased to a level like that of the 1970s. Multiple factors are identified causing this trend, such as increased pressure to publish in high impact journals and increasing administrative duties of professional scientists. The next generation of biodiversity experts needs to be fluent in modern techniques and publication strategies but also maintain robust morphology-based knowledge to be equipped for identification tasks of difficult taxa. Despite being disadvantaged by exclusive application of citation-based evaluation, we do need more positions and focused grants for biodiversity researchers to maintain the country’s knowledge base and to avoid being increasingly dependent on—equally declining—foreign expertise.

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Publication Details

Journal
Biodiversity and Conservation
Published
2024-11-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02934-6
Citations
19
Primary Topic
Species Distribution and Climate Change
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
17.47

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article

Identification crisis: a fauna-wide estimate of biodiversity expertise shows massive decline in a Central European country

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19 citations
Biodiversity and Conservation
Species Distribution and Climate Change
17.47
article

Identification crisis: a fauna-wide estimate of biodiversity expertise shows massive decline in a Central European country

Gábor Majoros, Gellért Puskás, Lajos Rózsa, Tibor Kovács, Zoltán Vas, Levente Ábrahám, Katalin Zsuga, Sándor Hornok, Dávid Murányi, Zoltán Soltész, Tamás Szűts, Éva Szita, Tamás Németh, Frank‐Thorsten Krell, Sándor Koczor, Pál Boda, Bálint Bajomi, Péter Kóbor, Bálint Pernecker, Péter Kovács, Zoltán Csabai, Jenő Kontschán, Zoltán Fehér, Csaba Csuzdi, Luca Eszter Balog, Barna Páll‐Gergely, László Dányi, Arnold Móra, Balázs Tóth, Adrienn Horváth, Márk Lukátsi, Andrea Tőke, Vivien Zsupos
article en
19 citations

Abstract

Abstract Expertise in biodiversity research (taxonomy, faunistics, conservation with taxonomic background) appears to decline worldwide. While the “taxonomic impediment” is discussed extensively in the literature, much fewer papers focus on the identification crisis, i.e., the decreasing number of experts who can identify species, and the decline of species-based biodiversity research. As a test case to explore the gravity of the identification crisis, we chose Hungary, a Central European country with a strong history of comprehensive taxonomic expertise and research output. We set out to answer two main questions. (1) What proportion of the Hungarian fauna could currently be identified by Hungarian experts, and what factors determine which groups are covered; and (2) what are the trends of biodiversity research in Hungary, and what are the underlying reasons for these trends? We show that Hungary lacks active biodiversity experts for almost half of the nearly 36,000 animal species recorded in the country, and more than a quarter of the fauna have only one or two active experts available. We also show that faunistic research experienced a golden era between ca. 1990 and 2010. Since then, however, there has been a strong decline, with the number of active experts and published papers decreased to a level like that of the 1970s. Multiple factors are identified causing this trend, such as increased pressure to publish in high impact journals and increasing administrative duties of professional scientists. The next generation of biodiversity experts needs to be fluent in modern techniques and publication strategies but also maintain robust morphology-based knowledge to be equipped for identification tasks of difficult taxa. Despite being disadvantaged by exclusive application of citation-based evaluation, we do need more positions and focused grants for biodiversity researchers to maintain the country’s knowledge base and to avoid being increasingly dependent on—equally declining—foreign expertise.

Biodiversity and ConservationVol. 33(13)
Eötvös Loránd University (HU), Eszterhazy Karoly Catholic University (HU), Magyar Agrár- és Élettudományi Egyetem (HU), University of Debrecen (HU), Hungarian Natural History Museum (HU), Denver Museum of Nature and Science (US), Babeș-Bolyai University (RO), Rippl-Rónai Museum (HU), Vector & Vector-Borne Diseases Research Institute (TZ), Institute of Ecology and Botany (HU), Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (HU), HUN-REN Balaton Limnological Research Institute (HU), HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research (HU), University of Veterinary Medicine (HU), HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research (HU), Plant Protection Institute (HU), Central Environmental and Food Science Research Institute (HU), WWF Hungary, University of Pecs (HU), Széchenyi István University (HU)
Universiteit Leiden, Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Species Distribution and Climate Change
17.47
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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