The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) is a taxonomic

research network Scientific collaboration network is a social network where nodes are scientists and links are co-authorships as the latter is one of the most well documented forms of scientific collaboration. It is an undirected, scale-free network where the deg ...

formed by scientific institutions in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It was formed in December 1996CETAF – What is CETAF
/ref> by ten of the largest European

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

s and

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s to be a voice for

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and systematic biology in Europe, to promote scientific research and access to European natural history collections, and to exploit European funding opportunities. Since then, CETAF has served as a meeting point for major European natural history museums and botanical gardens, and has initiated and played an important role in a number of projects (see ''Initiatives and related projects'' section below). Currently, CETAF has 37 members, which constitute a total of 63 institutions spanning 22 European countries (see ''Members'' section below). One of these members, the

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium (french: Muséum des sciences naturelles de Belgique, nl, Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen van België) is a museum dedicated to natural history, located in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is a part of t ...

, also hosts CETAF's General Secretariat. Together, CETAF institutions hold a large fraction (''c''. 500 million objects) of the world’s most important natural history collections, and the scientific staff have unique expertise in taxonomy and

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

Biodiversity loss Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, de ...

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and other environmental issues need natural history collections and related expertise as sources of knowledge and for reference. The increasing political and public awareness of environmental questions and their importance for society provide both challenges and opportunities for taxonomic facilities. CETAF strives to represent the interests of its member institutions, to enhance the visibility of its members, and to be a powerful voice for natural history collections and collections-based research in Europe.

General Meetings

General Meetings with representatives of each member institution are held twice a year. The meetings are hosted by any of the member institutions and held at any of the European natural history museums or botanic gardens. Current business between the General Meetings are run by the Chair and the Steering Committee, assisted by the

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

Initiatives and related projects

A number of CETAF members, or national consortia in which CETAF members play leading roles, have since 1998 received support through the European Commission's Framework Programmes to enhance transnational access to their collections, equipment and expertise.

CETAF initiatives

SYNTHESYS
(Synthesis of Systematic Resources) – A CETAF Integrated Infrastructure Initiative in EU FPVI and FPVII
European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)
– A CETAF network of Excellence in Taxonomy for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, EU FPVI, which started 1 March 2006. The project ended in 2011. *

European Journal of Taxonomy The ''European Journal of Taxonomy'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal for descriptive taxonomy of living and fossil eukaryotes, covering subjects in zoology, botany, and palaeontology. It is supported by the EJT Consortium, a ...

(EJT) – A peer-reviewed international journal in descriptive taxonomy, covering the eukaryotic world. ()
Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST)
– Established by EDIT

CETAF related research projects

European Network for Biodiversity Information (ENBI)
– This was the European contribution to the

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

(GBIF). The project was coordinated by the

Zoological Museum Amsterdam The Zoological Museum Amsterdam (ZMA) was a natural history museum located close to Oosterpark (Amsterdam), Oosterpark in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was part of the Faculty of Science, Mathematics and Computer Science (Science) of the University ...

, and ended in 2015.
Biological Collection Access Service (BioCASe)
– Historically, this was known as the Biological Collection Access Service for Europe (BioCASE). *

Fauna Europaea Fauna Europaea is a database of the scientific names and distribution of all living multicellular European land and fresh-water animals. It serves as a standard taxonomic source for animal taxonomy within the Pan-European Species directories Infras ...

ICEDIG
(Innovation and consolidation for large scale digitisation of natural heritage)
EU BON
(European Biodiversity Observation Network)
BIOTALENT
– a blended e-learning biodiversity training programme

Members

The following is a list of members, the nations in which these members are situated, and associated institutions:CETAF – CETAF Members
/ref>

References

CETAF position paper
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC) Madrid, Spain, 2004.

External links

CETAF official websiteBioCASE PortalCETAF publications
{{Authority control Biology in Europe

Taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

Museum associations and consortia Scientific organisations based in Belgium Taxonomy (biology) organizations