Participants
Tom Givnish
Patty Gowaty
Steve Hubbell
Kathryn Laslie
Hank Loescher
Albert Meier
Joe Miller
John Pickering
Leslie Ries
Steve Yanoviak

Agenda

Background -- Discover Life -> Moths -> Save all species -> Texas Biological Survey -> beyond
Multi-taxon inventory -- standardized effort, quality of identificatio, replication, ...
Terrestrial -- plants, moths (herbivores), bees (pollinators), ants (seed dispersers), ... mammals, singing critters, ...
Aquatic -- fish, mussels, adult aquatic insects, ...
Marine -- fish, corals, ...
Goal -- Inventory in search of mission(s) -> focus -> adjust
Baseline data for site management -- monitoring changes, invasives, diseases, canaries
Natural experiments -- add pesticides, drought, ... response
Half-earth -- inventories to target land acquistion
What species are already protected -- get checklists from existing protected areas
Use our inventories to fill in gaps and test our methods
What would protecting a specific area also save?
Theoretical issues -- ecology & biodiversity -- how are communities assembled, climate, soils, biogeography, ...?
Product(s) -- published white paper -- Not all species but selected taxa; not alpha taxonomy per se;...
-- data sharing, structured sampling, evidence based decision making and planning
Presentation -- Pick -- others?
Moth project -- methods and results
Identification tools -- more alpha taxonomy of key groups; facilitate use of known species
Mapping and other tools -- 700,000 species maps
Other tools -- data integration and sharing, albums, crowd sourcing, ...
Focal taxa -- Bees, moths, plants, ants, birds, lichens -- 1.4 million species

1. Save All Species
   
   • Our role and goals -- as thinkers, doers,... E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation
     NOT as justifying species conservation, marketing, fundraising, managing parks
     Methods to save all species not just charismatic, rare and endangered, but sprayed plants and insects, dammed rivers,...
     
   • Large Ecological Studies of Species (LESS)
     Texas Biological Survey, other places (NC, PA, IN, AL,...Africa)
     Advancing theory -- with community assemblages (plants, moths, bees, ants,...)
     Global mapping and analysis -- satellites
     
   • Moth project
     LTREB -- threats to insects and their predators -- pesticides, land use,...
     Pupa bank
     
   • Focal groups: Bees, Moths, Ants, Plants, ... even aquatic!
     
   • Data quality: Evidence not hearsay, camera traps, sound recordings, photographs, specimens, DNA
     

2. Transform Education and Mastermind Solutions (TEAMS)
   
   • Moth Math
     
   • Texas -- Formal education versus informal
     
   • Delaware, elsewhere
     
   • Alternative for inventory -- pay people