On May 22, International Biodiversity Day, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Biodiversity Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Committee”), the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Strategic Leadership Project (Class A) Earth Big Data Science Project (CASEarth) sponsored the "Chinese Biological Species "The Directory 2020 Edition" is officially released online. The press conference was hosted by the deputy director and secretary-general of the committee and researcher Mark Ping of the Institute of Botany. More than 180 people from more than 100 research institutes, universities, government departments, NGOs and companies across the country participated in the network press conference. The meeting also invited Dr. Peter Schalk and Dr. Olaf Banki, Executive Secretary of Species 2000 from the Leiden Center for Biodiversity in the Netherlands.
The 2020 annual list includes 122,280 species and planted units, including 54,359 animal species, 37,793 plant species, and 12,506 fungal species. At the press conference, researcher Ji Liqiang from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Liu Bing from the Institute of Botany, and Dr. Mingjun Zhao from the Institute of Microbiology respectively introduced and prospected the overall progress of the list and the work of different groups.
On the basis of the 2019 list, a total of 15,971 species have been added to the 2020 version, including 9,350 new animal species, 426 plant species, and 5474 fungal species. According to the introduction of the press conference, the 2020 version of the directory has added a series of new functions. Name matching service, users can match with Chinese and global directories. Users can log in to www.sp2000.org.cn to access online data, or download a suitable version from this website for offline browsing.
At the press conference, Dr. Peter Schalk and Dr. Olaf Banki congratulated the release of the 2020 Chinese Biological Species List and stated that the Species 2000 China Node is an important part of the global network and the most active member. With the title of "Innovating the Catalogue of Life Services powered by GBIF: Incubator for the Global Alliance for Biodiversity Knowledge", Dr. Olaf Banki introduced the progress and future plans of the global catalogue of biological species, especially with the Global Biodiversity Information Network ( GBIF) cooperate to build a new species list system, etc.
The list of biological species is the basic data for understanding biological diversity. Only when the background is clear can it be possible to better conduct research, protection and related decision-making. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the "List of Biological Species in China" and all users for their support and encouragement.
