万物简史 第526期:丰富多彩的生命(22)

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not a great number when you consider how much there is to be recorded. 考虑到有那么多的东西需要作记录，这个数目不算大。

But, the Journal adds, because of the cost (about $2,000 per species) and paperwork, 但是，该报接着又说，由于成本（大约每个物种1250英镑）和文字工作的原因，

only about fifteen thousand new species of all types are logged per year. 每年只有大约l5000个各个类型的新物种登记入册。

It's not a biodiversity crisis, it's a taxonomist crisis! barks Koen Maes, “目前面临的不是生物多样性危机，而是分类学家危机！”柯恩·梅斯大声疾呼。

Belgian-born head of invertebrates¹ at the Kenyan National Museum in Nairobi, whom I met briefly² on a visit to the country in the autumn of 2002. 梅斯生于比利时，目前是内罗毕肯尼亚国家博物馆脊椎动物部的主任。2002年秋，我在访问那个国家时与他见过一面。

There were no specialized³ taxonomists in the whole of Africa, he told me. 他对我说，整个非洲没有专门的分类学家。

"There was one in the Ivory Coast, but I think he has retired," he said. “象牙海岸过去有一个，但我认为他已经退休了。”他又说。

It takes eight to ten years to train a taxonomist, but none are coming along in Africa. 培养一名分类学家要花8一l0年时间，而在非洲没有接班人。

"They are the real fossils," Maes added. “他们是真正的化石。”梅斯接着说。

He himself was to be let go at the end of the year, he said. 他说，他自己到年底也要走了。

After seven years in Kenya, his contract was not being renewed. 他在肯尼亚待了7年，不会再续签合同。

"No funds," Maes explained. “没有资金。”梅斯解释说。

Writing in the journal Nature last year, the British biologist G. H. Godfray noted⁴ that there is a chronic⁵ "lack of prestige and resources" for taxonomists everywhere. 英国植物学家G.H.戈弗雷不久前在为《自然》杂志写的一篇文章里指出，哪里的分类学家都经常“缺少地位和资源”。

In consequence, "many species are being described poorly in isolated⁶ publications, with no attempt to relate a new taxon to existing species and classifications." 结果，“不知名的出版物里对许多物种的描述都很蹩脚，没有人会努力把一个新的分类单元与现存的物种和分类联系起来”。

(The formal word for a zoological category, such as phylum or genus. The plural⁷ is taxa.) （动物学表示一类的正式用词，如门或属。）

 

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