Species delimitation 4.0: integrative taxonomy meets artificial intelligence
Kevin Karbstein, Lara M. Kösters, Ladislav Hodač, Martin Hofmann, Elvira Hörandl, Salvatore Tomasello, Natascha D. Wagner, Brent C. Emerson, Dirk C. Albach, Stefan Scheu, Sven Bradler, Jan de Vries, Iker Irisarri, Li He, Pamela S. Soltis, Patrick Mäder, Jana Wäldchen
Abstract
Although species are central units for biological research, recent findings in genomics are raising awareness that what we call species can be ill-founded entities due to solely morphology-based, regional species descriptions. This particularly applies to groups characterized by intricate evolutionary processes such as hybridization, polyploidy, or asexuality. Here, challenges of current integrative taxonomy (genetics/genomics + morphology + ecology, etc.) become apparent: different favored species concepts, lack of universal characters/markers, missing appropriate analytical tools for intricate evolutionary processes, and highly subjective ranking and fusion of datasets. Now, integrative taxonomy combined with artificial intelligence under a unified species concept can enable automated feature learning and data integration, and thus reduce subjectivity in species delimitation. This approach will likely accelerate revising and unraveling eukaryotic biodiversity.