'Michelin Man' look-alike Tecticornia bibenda, one of
the new species named in WA in 2007.
Image courtesy of DEC

Despite a record number of new plant species being identified in WA in 2007, WA along with all other Australian states is experiencing a crippling shortage of taxonomists.

Curator of the WA Herbarium, Kevin Thiele, said few people realised how widespread the impact of this shortage could be.

Without the capacity to name new species many environmental studies would be delayed for months, possibly years, which in the case of plant surveys by mining companies could cost millions of dollars.

Dr Thiele said WA already had an enormous backlog of new species of plants which had been discovered but were awaiting proper naming and classification.

From a conservation perspective Dr Thiele said it was often the case that plants were not discovered until they’re threatened, and conservation programs could not be put in place until the plants were properly identified and classified.

“WA is a world biodiversity hotspot, with an enormous number of unnamed and unclassified plants, more than in any other region of the world, and many of those plants are already under threat,’’ he said.

WA Environment Minister David Templeman announced this month that 298 new WA plants were named in 2007, more species than in any year since 1810, when the botanist Robert Brown published the first major account of WA’s plants.

Many of the new species were discovered as a result of botanical surveys in the banded iron ranges of the Mid-West. Areas subject to mining or other development applications were studied by botanists as part of the environmental assessment process.

“Naming is important, as once a species is named, it can be more accurately documented and its conservation needs assessed. Other scientists and researchers, mining consultants, members of the general public and wildflower enthusiasts need names to be able to properly recognise, study and protect native plants,” Mr Templeman said.

Director of the Australian Biological Resources Study Cameron Slatyer confirmed that while WA was in a better position than many other states, there was also a huge workload in WA because of the large number of species in the State and the number of mining companies trying to complete environment impact studies as part of their approvals process.

“The brutal reality is that scientists need to find about 30 per cent of their funding from private sources and it is probably easier in WA to find funding because of the number of mining companies relying on the work they do,’’ he said.

Dr Thiele said that most miners in WA recognised the importance of taxonomy within the mining approvals process.

“The good citizens among the miners recognise that it is in their best interests to identify all of the plants on their prospective sites up front, because the last thing they want is to have a new plant identified on their site late in the piece, because it’s a potential show stopper,” he said.

“BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in particular are funding taxonomic research at the WA Herbarium, in recognition of the problem a lack of taxonomy brings to them.’’

Dr Thiele said that although the WA government had introduced some measure to try to overcome the shortage of taxonomists, three new taxonomy appointments funded last year through the Saving Our Species initiative to do some basic taxonomy, describing new species of plants from the banded ironstone range, were all on short-term contracts.

Mr Slatyer said the problem was being compounded by a lack of education opportunities in Australia.

“Ultimately the problem is a bit more serious than just funding, not only are there not enough taxonomists currently in the workforce, most states no longer offer tertiary courses to train taxonomists.’’

Dr Thiele said that the University of Western Australia had recently reinstated a unit on taxonomy but it would take time for any tangible increase in the number of trained taxonomists to filter through into the workforce.

The Australia-wide shortage of taxonomists was also highlighted recently by leading environmental scientist Associate Professor Bob Beeton who said taxonomy was the fundamental basis for biological conservation and the majority of Australia’s current capacity to identify organisms rested with scientists who were either retired or approaching retirement.

“If the taxonomic capacity of Australia is not corrected, we really could put in jeopardy environmental governance, not only in terms of achieving conservation and development outcomes but also the safeguarding of Australia's natural and rural systems,” Associate Professor Beeton said.

“Australia needs to train six to ten graduates each year for at least a decade to stop the erosion of our capacity and stabilise our national capability in taxonomy,” he said.