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WorkshopsWorkshops – a means of sharing international expertiseThe Swedish Taxonomy Initiative regards international workshops as an efficient means of increasing our understanding of poorly known organism groups. This is especially true of groups were we more or less lack indigenous experts. So far, a handful of workshops have been arranged by or supported by the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative. Two of these are briefly presented below. If you have suggestions and ideas about workshops that might improve our understanding of poorly known organism groups, please contact Rikard Sundin (Research Officer) at Rikard.Sundin@artdata.slu.seMarine Meiofauna Workshop (Tjärnö, 2007)In September 2007, the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative arranged a marine meiofauna workshop at Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory. Led by Ulf Jondelius, twelve distinguished international experts made a “deep dive” into the marine meiofauna of the waters surrounding the research station. During the two weeks of the workshop, 94 species new to Sweden were discovered, 18 of which were new to science – an increase of the known Swedish marine species stock by over 2%. The international experts also lectured at the PhD student course arranged by the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative (as part of the School of Taxonomy and Systematics), which was held at the same time in order to stimulate the interest in marine meiofauna among the PhD students.The results of the workshop have been compiled by Willems et al. (2009). Download results  Bryozoan workshop (Kristineberg, 2009)In early June 2009, a one-week bryozoan workshop was arranged by the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative at the Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg. The workshop was organised and headed by Matthias Obst at the Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg. Five distinguished European experts had been invited to the workshop. The main task was to sort and identify key parts of the extensive bryozoan material accumulated during STI’s Marine Inventory. Matthias Obst and his PhD student Judith Fuchs had previously gone through approximately one third of the material, identifying some 120 species, of which approximately 30 were new to Sweden. During the course of the workshop, 14 additional species new to Sweden, and two or three species new to science, were discovered. Matthias Obst estimates that the known Swedish bryozoan species stock may have increased from c. 140 to c. 200 species once the entire material has been investigated. Some of the new species have probably spread northwards in recent years due to climate and habitat changes, whereas others have existed here for a long time without being discovered.
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