tion and disease prevention must grow in parallel. We 

 cannot guess the possible agricultural, medical, or eco- 

 logical benefits that disappearing tropical species could 

 offer a needy mankind. 



Reld Museum and Tropical Diversity 



The majority of forms at immediate risk in the diversity 

 crisis inhabit moist tropical forests. Although many of 

 these forests have never been studied, existing infor- 

 mation suggests that most tropical species have yet to 

 be discovered: tropical samples of many groups of 

 organisms contain more new species than previously 

 described forms. Such ratios indicate that from 3 to 28 

 million species in tropical forests await scientific dis- 

 covery and description. The magnitude of this scien- 

 tific challenge may be dimly appreciated when one 

 considers that, throughout the Age of Exploration and 

 Discovery (1760-present), scientists described about 

 1.7 million species. 



The scientific community is ill-equipped to 

 address this profound deficiency in our biological 

 understanding. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard Univer- 

 sity estimates that fewer than 1,500 scientists world- 

 wide are trained in the systematics of tropical organ- 

 isms (or about one scientist per 2,000-18,700 species). 

 At present, less than 1 percent of known species is 

 under scientific investigation. Exacerbating this prob- 

 lem, available funds for systematic research are minim- 

 al: annua/ allocations in the United States could not 

 support a single working day in the "exploratory phase" 

 of Star Wars development. Consequently, the numbers 

 of scientists attracted to careers in systematics and 

 training programs for them have declined at the very 

 time that need is greatest. 



Field Museum is one of the world's four largest 

 centers of systematic biology. Each scientist in its de- 

 partments of Botany and Zoology studies tropical 

 plants and animals, contributing in different ways to 

 knowledge of tropical diversity. It goes without saying 

 that the patterns and processes affecting natural diver- 

 sity must be studied if we are to devise effective strat- 

 egies for conserving it. Areas in which museum staff 

 contribute directly to tropical conservation efforts are 

 sketched below, but space limitations make this very 

 incomplete. 



Inventories of Unknown Biotas 



Priorities are essential for effective conservation be- 

 cause the entire globe is under seige and there are in- 



adequate funds to protect all or even much of it. Most 

 conservationists focus on saving habitats rather than 

 individual species — because organisms are intricately 

 interrelated, functioning ecosystems must be preserved 

 in order to retain all the resources, checks, and ba- 

 lances required for the stable persistence of individual 

 species. Various criteria are used to decide which habi- 

 tats are most important to conserve, but the number of 

 species inhabiting an area and their uniqueness (or 

 endemism) rank high. This information can only come 

 from biological inventories of the species occurring 

 there: the richer the biota and the greater its dis- 

 tinctiveness, the higher the value of preserving its 

 habitat. 



Applying this simple rule-of-thumb in the world's 

 tropics is a surprisingly difficult task. For one thing, 

 identifying species in nature isn't easy. We can all rec- 

 ognize hummingbirds at our bird-feeders, but few can 

 recognize the 300+ species that occur in the New 

 World tropics. Remember, there are no field guides to 

 most tropical organisms because they have never been 

 studied, and this information doesn't exist even in the 

 largest technical libraries. In addition, many species of 

 organisms are distinguished by such subtle differences 

 that chromosomal, genetic, acoustic, microscopic, and 

 other kinds of characters must be examined by special- 

 ists before the species can be identified. 



As a group, museum curators surpass all other sci- 

 entists in their ability to identify organisms. This key 

 ability rests on extensive training and resources. After 

 nearly a century of active work in tropical systematics. 

 Field Museum maintains enormous reference collec- 

 tions that are broadly representative and compre- 

 hensive. As examples, all continents and most coun- 

 tries are represented in most collections; in addition, 

 98 percent of all living families of mammals and 99 

 percent of all bird families are represented at Field 

 Museum. The collections are also rich in "type" speci- 

 mens, which have special value in making identifica- 

 tions. Comprehensive libraries of scientific literature 

 are also crucial — Field Museum's is one of the best, 

 with over 235,000 volumes in natural history dating 

 back to the bestiaries and herbals of the Middle Ages. 



Because most tropical regions are poorly known, 

 inventories there typically uncover species new to sci- 

 ence. These must first be distinguished from known 

 forms and then scientifically described. Only systema- 

 tists are qualified to describe new forms, according each 

 a unique name. This process provides an essential 

 foundation for every other branch of biological sci- 

 ence: ecologists and physiologists cannot accurately 21 



