Modernising taxonomy for conservation

Modernising taxonomy for conservation Michael Magee from the Natural History Museum of Denmark discusses how the EU-funded TETTRIs project investigates methods to modernise taxonomy to improve conservation efforts. Since Linnaeus standardised the naming of species nearly 270 years ago, fewer than 20% of the world’s estimated eight million plant, animal, and fungal species have been formally described, classified, and named. Although rates of species description have increased, extinction rates have risen even faster, meaning species are being lost before they are described.