THE ROLE OF CREATIVE MONOGRAPHY IN THE BIODIVERSITY CRISIS

The increasing size and activities of the human population have result ed in pressure on the survival of other life forms. In the face of ext inction of many of these organisms, we need to learn as much about the m as quickly as possible. One level of understanding can be achieved t hrough monographic studies, which contain basic descriptive informatio n about organisms and their distributions. Monographs also contain pre dictive classifications and usually also evolutionary and biogeographi c hypotheses for use by systematic biologists and society in general. The current rate of disappearance of the world's biota suggests need f or increased levels of creative monographic activity. Funding for bota nical monography in the United States, however, is declining, and fewe r graduate students are being trained with these interests and skills. Large-scale monographic projects with established workers and postdoc toral associates together focusing on large taxa (i.e., 50-100 species ) are advocated as one solution to the problem.