What are we going to do about this?

[Gregory Zolnerowich]

Perhaps systematists have been their own worst enemies for not educating
the society and the powers-that-be of the value of their work.  How often
have systematists over the years said, "Sure, I'll look at your insects.",
and invariably done it for free?  Society assigns some monetary value to
objects or activities.  You may not think Michael Jordan is worth millions
of dollars to throw a ball through a hoop, but society evidently does.
What have systematists done so that society can place some kind of value on
their efforts?

Concerning molecular systematics, those workers don't bat an eye when
submitting big budgets. But what do they turn to for identification of
their taxa or corroboration of their phylogenies?  Morphological work, of
course.

Greg Z.

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Dr. Gregory Zolnerowich                 gzolner at acs.tamu.edu
Dept. of Entomology                     409-862-3344 phone
Texas A&M University                    409-845-7977 fax
College Station, TX 77843-2475
USA
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