SOSA – Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance

Taxonomy

Taxonomy – the study of describing, naming and classifying organisms based on their shared characteristics – was developed in the 18th century by Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus.  This way of understanding and differentiating different organisms not only allows us to have a specific and common language with which to converse precisely, it has also evolved to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct.

Taxonomic work may differ in focus. While the conception, classification, and naming of groups of organisms is the shared foundation, the taxonomic work SOSA does is focused solely on the description and naming of new species – often referred to as alpha taxonomy.

Taxonomic Methods

Morphology Analysing the morphology (how organisms are built and structured) of new species is the most relevant and widely used approach to taxonomy. Various macro- and microscopic tools are frequently applied, including light microscopy and various imaging techniques.  
Scientific Drawing Scientific drawings communicate the complex details and morphology of a species. Morphological illustrations are commonly made using a light microscope equipped with a drawing tube, also known as camera lucida. Alternatively, drawings can be traced from photographs. This old but still widely applied technique of scientific drawing has several advantages over imaging techniques and is, therefore, still incredibly relevant. When creating scientific drawings, morphological features of an organism can be simplified, isolated, emphasized or neglected if this serves the overall purpose of the illustration. 
Morphological Imaging As morphology is the prime source for comparison in taxonomy, imaging technologies play a key role in species descriptions. Taxonomic descriptions depend largely upon illustrations, more so than in most other scientific disciplines. Throughout the history of modern taxonomy, species descriptions have nearly always been accompanied by visual representations fundamental to convey information about the morphology and character states that are described to distinguish species. As digital imaging plays a key role in enhancing species description the importance of a wide range of techniques, like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), micro-computed tomography (µCT), Macro-Photography, is increasing.

What is a Species?

Describing new species is key to SOSA’s mission, but there are actually many different ways to define what qualifies as or what we understand as a species. The biological species concept is the best-known: a species is a group of organisms that can biologically reproduce and differ from other such groups by not being able to reproduce with these.  

Like many taxonomists, SOSA does not see species as a solid concept, rather, it is a hypothesis, meaning it can be challenged, change across time and is not set in stone. We see species as a “separately evolving metapopulation lineage” that we define at a certain point of time of their evolution. And because evolution never stops, species are also always changing and evolving. Similarly, as human methodologies for understanding organisms change and become more advanced, older conceptions of species may also change and evolve.

Specimen Collections

A critical aspect of SOSA’s taxonomic work involves comparing a new species’ morphology and characteristics to already known species. This helps to corroborate that the species at hand is actually a new one and not already known to science. Scientific specimen collections are at the foundation of this process.

Specimen collections are an important research infrastructure that consist of preserved specimens (either wet or dry) and the corresponding data associated with that specimen (such as date of collection, geographic location, etc.). Senckenberg’s specimen collection includes approximately 40 million items, representing the largest natural history collection in Germany and likely the sixth-largest worldwide.

Marine Invertebrate Specimen Collection

Scientific specimens are crucial to the process of identifying new species, but they also continue to help us further our scientific understanding of the ocean and biodiversity. Serving as archives of life, collections help us to observe and monitor changes in species characteristics over time – like morphology and habitat range. Specimens and their corresponding data allow us to develop a baseline to better understand the effects of climate change and other environmental threats. Specimen collections are an essential and frequently used cornerstone to taxonomy, biogeography and other disciplines. Therefore, maintaining and developing curated and accessible specimen collections is vital for biodiversity research and conservation efforts.