We discover
Discovering new marine species from the Coral Sea Bush Blitz.
Photo: Gary Cranitch © ABRS
Discovering new species
Australian taxonomists discover and name more than a thousand new species living in Australia and its surrounding oceans every year.
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And yet, we've only scratched the surface. Many new species, from geckos, frogs and spiders to orchids and the insects that pollinate them, from deep-sea fish to creatures living in caves and underground aquifers, and from inhabitants of the most remote tropical mountaintops to insects in your backyard, remain to be discovered, named and studied.
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Taxonomy Australia's Discoveries blog will keep you up-to-date with new species and new knowledge about Australia's rich and globally important biodiversity.
Discovering new knowledge
Taxonomists do more than simply discover new species. They also discover new knowledge about species and the evolution of life on Earth, discoveries that underpin our understanding of this living planet.
Taxonomists and biosystematists studying evolution seek to understand how life evolved, why it's so diverse (especially in places like Australia), and what the future holds for our biodiversity.
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And by closely studying creatures from microorganisms to dinosaurs, taxonomists provide insights into their lives and relationships. You can read the stories uncovered by taxonomists and biosystematists on our blog This Wonderful Life.
Sampling feathers to investigate the evolutionary
relationships of birds
Photo: Clay Bryce © Western Australian Museum
New species are discovered all around the world, including in the ocean depths. And taxonomists use all available technologies to find them.
Photo: © NOAA
Discovering new opportunities and challenges
There has never been a more exciting time to explore life on Earth.
New technologies, from genome scans to machine learning and from Virtual Reality to 3D imaging, are allowing us to uncover and understand our biodiversity in ways undreamt of only a few years ago.
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At the same time, there has never been a more urgent need to explore life on Earth. Climate change, ocean acidification, land clearing, pests and pollution threaten to drive many species to extinction before we even know they are there.
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These opportunities and challenges mean we can, and must, accelerate our exploration and discovery of Australia's and the Earth's biodiversity.
