College authorities think that a new recruit with specialisation in Cyto-genetics can manage classess on taxonomy. On the contrary a new recruit with specialisation in taxonomy cannot efficiently teach other subjects. So taxonomy is getting neglected. The teachers from other fields cannot create interest among the studends studying taxonomy.
It is expected that a student doing Ph D on taxonomy will definitely like to have a job related to taxonomy. They often do not get such a chance.
I know of a university professor who would never allow a student with taxonomy to stand first in the whole class. Students get demoralised with such an attitude but they cannot due anything.
The students with taxonomy should also be taught molecular sequencing from the B Sc level with hands on experience so that they can utilise the said knowledge during their revisionary studies themselves.
This facility is lacking in our university syllabus.
In my opinion these are some of the problems in taxonomic studies in India, might be in the whole world too.
College authorities think that a new recruit with specialisation in Cyto-genetics can manage classess on taxonomy. On the contrary a new recruit with specialisation in taxonomy cannot efficiently teach other subjects. So taxonomy is getting neglected. The teachers from other fields cannot create interest among the studends studying taxonomy.
It is expected that a student doing Ph D on taxonomy will definitely like to have a job related to taxonomy. They often do not get such a chance.
I know of a university professor who would never allow a student with taxonomy to stand first in the whole class. Students get demoralised with such an attitude but they cannot due anything.
The students with taxonomy should also be taught molecular sequencing from the B Sc level with hands on experience so that they can utilise the said knowledge during their revisionary studies themselves.
This facility is lacking in our university syllabus.
In my opinion these are some of the problems in taxonomic studies in India, might be in the whole world too.
Well, this a global problem now.
But yes, in India I can see that we have actually been struggling for some time now. As a taxonomist working with a complex model like cyanobacteria, I will give few of my inputs (they may be more from my own experiences with cyanobacterial taxonomy):
1. Probably the shift from classical to modern methods has not been understood fully by the taxonomists in India. To be more blunt, old taxonomists have been uncomfortable with the modern genomic age. That is why, if you see carefully, the publication quality has gone down though the quantity may have improved. What needs to be done is to coordinate both classical and modern methodologies which is needed. People who have done it successfully, are still happy!
2. The youngsters need to be groomed and encouraged to take up taxonomic works. I can see students getting more curious towards cancer, applied research etc. Partly, we the teachers should realize that somewhere we failed to ignite the minds.
3. Old classical texts are not exactly available to many students (I talk about my model, the cyanobacteria) and due to this many students do not find any interest into this field of science. I believe that if any branch of science is taught with an initial grooming about the past heroes, the legendary works, the tales of struggle the students do get encouraged and motivated.
Taxonomy is one of the oldest branches of Science and you need to be a good story teller to the young generations!
Thanks
From the stand point of holotypes of plant names I can assure you many of them are not deposited in the Indian herbaria though stated in the protologue.
@P.R. Jayachandran, type availability is again a major concern. Designated repositories in India also have two problems: first they are very specific and thus limited, second some are just useless.
Sorry state of affairs, but this is the reality
To avoid this problem registration of fungal names have come into effect.
I have seen the Current Science paper.
To know about registration of fungal names see Shenzhen Code online.
You can also contact one of our colleagues Dr Kanad Das who is also a RG member
Also see
http://www.mycobank.org/DefaultInfo.aspx?Page=HelpMovies
I fully agree with @Subir. Basic knowledge is acquired at University level where at present there is shortage of taxonomy Professors in India as the authorities believe that a Cytologist, Palynologist and can teach taxonomy. Anyway, it does not matter. I myself had Taxonomy special paper in M. Sc. But when I entered Botanical Survey of India for pursuing Ph. D. in taxonomy, I found I know practically nothing about taxonomy. Thus I realized that only an experienced Taxonomist can teach you real taxonomy and infuse real interest in the subject.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_will_be_the_fate_of_Taxonomy?view=5be7fb1ca7cbaf78717d084f
See the paper related to type deposition. We have some more papers on this topic
Lack of knowledge to understand the importance of taxonomy in general seems to be one of the major obstacles. This has many other secondary problems like lack of funding, less number of jobs which ultimately leads to lack of interest in the young minds.
Classical taxonomy must be rethought, given the fact that it suffers from the development of other biology disciplines; particularly those related to development of new techniques. As a result, it now seems dethroned by integrative taxonomy, a discipline that synthesizes all the data of biology to build a large synthesis of our knowledge in biology.
Exactly. Multidimensional collaborative studies have started replacing the unidirectional descriptive studies.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Geoscience
- Asia
- India