Nicolson Nicky, Challis Katherine, Tucker Allan, Knapp Sandra
Biodiversity Informatics & Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond Surrey, TW9 3AA, UK.
Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK.
BMC Evol Biol. 2017 May 25;17(1):116. doi: 10.1186/s12862-017-0961-8.
At the Nomenclature Section of the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, Australia (IBC), the botanical community voted to allow electronic publication of nomenclatural acts for algae, fungi and plants, and to abolish the rule requiring Latin descriptions or diagnoses for new taxa. Since the 1st January 2012, botanists have been able to publish new names in electronic journals and may use Latin or English as the language of description or diagnosis.
Using data on vascular plants from the International Plant Names Index (IPNI) spanning the time period in which these changes occurred, we analysed trajectories in publication trends and assessed the impact of these new rules for descriptions of new species and nomenclatural acts. The data show that the ability to publish electronically has not "opened the floodgates" to an avalanche of sloppy nomenclature, but concomitantly neither has there been a massive expansion in the number of names published, nor of new authors and titles participating in publication of botanical nomenclature.
The e-publication changes introduced in the Melbourne Code have gained acceptance, and botanists are using these new techniques to describe and publish their work. They have not, however, accelerated the rate of plant species description or participation in biodiversity discovery as was hoped.
在澳大利亚墨尔本举行的第十八届国际植物学大会（IBC）的命名法部分，植物学界投票决定允许以电子方式发布藻类、真菌和植物的命名行为，并废除要求对新分类群进行拉丁文描述或诊断的规则。自2012年1月1日起，植物学家能够在电子期刊上发表新名称，并且可以使用拉丁文或英文作为描述或诊断语言。
利用国际植物名称索引（IPNI）中关于维管植物的、涵盖这些变化发生时间段的数据，我们分析了出版趋势的轨迹，并评估了这些新规则对新物种描述和命名行为的影响。数据表明，电子出版的能力并未“打开闸门”，导致大量草率的命名出现，但与此同时，出版的名称数量、参与植物命名出版的新作者和新标题数量也没有大幅增加。
《墨尔本法规》引入的电子出版变化已被接受，植物学家正在使用这些新技术来描述和发表他们的工作。然而，它们并没有像预期的那样加快植物物种描述的速度或参与生物多样性发现的速度。
