[Protecting biodiversity and sustainable sciences]. / Protection de la biodiversité et sciences durables.

The latest IPBES report clearly showed that pollution and proliferation of invasive alien species constituted two of the five major factors responsible for the biodiversity decline. Faced with this situation, we present here the development of nature-based solutions in response to these two challenges. This approach has firstly made it possible to progress in understanding the adaptation strategies of plants and associated micro-organisms to respond to attacks such as pollution. Thus, relevant studies showed that certain plant species are able to grow in environments contaminated with metallic elements, or even to sequester toxic pollutants in their leaves or their roots. This research has made it possible to provide original solutions for the ecological restoration of soils and the decontamination of aquatic systems using dead invasive exotic plant species. The promotion of these solutions through the concept of ecocatalysis, at the interface of ecology and chemistry, contributed to make them sustainable and economically viable.

Title: Protection de la biodiversité et sciences durables. Abstract: Le dernier rapport de l'IPBES a clairement montré que la pollution et la multiplication des espèces exotiques envahissantes constituaient deux des cinq facteurs majeurs responsables du déclin de la biodiversité. Face à cette situation, nous présentons dans cette brève revue le développement de solutions fondées sur la nature pour répondre à ces deux défis. Cette approche a tout d'abord permis de progresser dans la compréhension des stratégies d'adaptation des plantes et des microorganismes associés, pour répondre à des agressions telles que celle de la pollution. Ainsi, il a pu être démontré que certaines espèces végétales sont capables de se développer dans des milieux contaminés par des éléments métalliques, voire de séquestrer les polluants toxiques dans leurs feuilles ou leurs racines. Ces recherches ont permis d'apporter des solutions originales pour la restauration écologique des sols et la décontamination des systèmes aquatiques à l'aide d'espèces végétales exotiques envahissantes mortes. Afin de les rendre pérennes et économiquement viables, ces solutions ont été valorisées à travers le concept de l'écocatalyse, à l'interface de l'écologie et de la chimie.

Insufficient and biased representation of species geographic responses to climate change.

The geographic redistributions of species due to a rapidly changing climate are poised to perturb ecological communities and significantly impact ecosystems and human livelihoods. Effectively managing these biological impacts requires a thorough understanding of the patterns and processes of species geographic range shifts. While substantial recent redistributions have been identified and recognized to vary by taxon, region, and range geometry, there are large gaps and biases in the available evidence. Here, we use the largest compilation of geographic range change observations to date, comprised of 33,016 potential redistributions across 12,009 species, to formally assess within- and cross-species coverage and biases and to motivate future data collection. We find that species coverage varies strongly by taxon and underrepresents species at high and low latitudes. Within species, assessments of potential redistributions came from parts of their geographic range that were highly uneven and non-representative. For most species and taxa, studies were strongly biased toward the colder parts of species' distributions and thus significantly underrepresented populations that might get pushed beyond their maximum temperature limits. Coverage of potential leading and trailing geographic range edges under a changing climate was similarly uneven. Only 8% of studied species were assessed at both high and low latitude and elevation range edges, with most only covered at one edge. This suggests that substantial within-species biases exacerbate the considerable geographic and taxonomic among-species unevenness in evidence. Our results open the door for a more quantitative accounting for existing knowledge biases in climate change ecology and a more informed management and conservation. Our findings offer guidance for future data collection that better addresses information gaps and provides a more effective foundation for managing the biological impacts of climate change.

The inclusion of improved forest management in strategic forest planning and its impact on timber harvests, carbon and biodiversity conservation.

In forestry, although the so-called nature-based climate solutions have usually been focused on the calculation of carbon captured in new afforestation projects, it should be noted that the increase in carbon associated with improvements in their management (Improved Forest Management) can also be computed. This type of carbon is not usually integrated into strategic forest planning models, nor has its possible degree of conflict with other regulation ecosystemic services, like biodiversity conservation, been verified. In this research, those two issues have been approached by calculating a baseline in an emblematic forest with an extensive forestry history. For this purpose, we have designed two scenarios, i.e., one linked to its current management (Business As Usual, BAU) and another justified by the inclusion of Improved Forest Management (IFM). The results reveal a notable conflict between the carbon captured and the values of the indicators used to measure biodiversity. In order to reach a compromise between both scenarios, a multi-criteria model has been proposed that could be more attractive than the above ones. In addition, the carbon profit credits in the first ten years have been computed under the IFM scenario; the latter could be, a priori, an object of transaction in a voluntary carbon market. In conclusion, our model generates feasible solutions that allow the integration of IFM into strategic planning. Besides, those solutions show interesting tradeoffs between carbon and biodiversity. This discord must be distinguished by the current state of the forest and its expected growth, as well as their influence on the values associated with provision ecosystem services, such as the present net value associated with timber harvests.

The Central Paratethys Sea-rise and demise of a Miocene European marine biodiversity hotspot.

The Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO, ~ 17-14 Ma) was a time of extraordinary marine biodiversity in the Circum-Mediterranean Region. This boom is best recorded in the deposits of the vanished Central Paratethys Sea, which covered large parts of central to southeastern Europe. This sea harbored an extraordinary tropical to subtropical biotic diversity. Here, we present a georeferenced dataset of 859 gastropod species and discuss geodynamics and climate as the main drivers to explain the changes in diversity. The tectonic reorganization around the Early/Middle Miocene boundary resulted in the formation of an archipelago-like landscape and favorable conditions of the MCO allowed the establishment of coral reefs. Both factors increased habitat heterogeneity, which boosted species richness. The subsequent cooling during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (~ 14-13 Ma) caused a drastic decline in biodiversity of about 67%. Among the most severely hit groups were corallivorous gastropods, reflecting the loss of coral reefs. Deep-water faunas experienced a loss by 57% of the species due to changing patterns in circulation. The low sea level led to a biogeographic fragmentation reflected in higher turnover rates. The largest turnover occurred with the onset of the Sarmatian when bottom water dysoxia eradicated the deep-water fauna whilst surface waters-dwelling planktotrophic species underwent a crisis.

Diversity and Ecological Distribution of Plecoptera of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The order Plecoptera constitutes a relatively small group of aquatic insects, encompassing 17 extant families and comprising over 4400 valid species. In Brazil, the number of valid extant species is 207, located in two families: Perlidae (149) and Gripopterygidae (58). Despite extensive research on the southeastern region of Brazil, there is a notable scarcity of comprehensive studies consolidating geographical records and species richness of Plecoptera in the state of Minas Gerais. This study seeks to increase and refine our understanding of Plecoptera within Minas Gerais, focusing on its diversity and distribution. The initial phase involved a thorough review of articles documenting Plecoptera species in the state. Subsequently, biological material from the Museum of Entomology at the Federal University of Viçosa collection was meticulously identified, and its geographical records were incorporated. Utilizing this dataset, we compiled an updated list of Plecoptera species documented in Minas Gerais. Geographical coordinates of collection points were then mapped and graphically represented to elucidate the geographic and altitudinal distribution of these species. A total of 42 Plecoptera species were identified within the state of Minas Gerais, adding many occurrence records and documenting the first record of Gripopteryx pinima for the state. Despite these advancements, knowledge gaps persist, particularly in the mesoregions of Triângulo/Alto Paranaíba, Oeste de Minas, Vale do Mucuri, and Campo das Vertentes. This endeavor serves as an initial foundation to stimulate further collections and investments in undersampled areas, fostering future monitoring and conservation initiatives for aquatic environments.

Bee monitoring by community scientists: comparing a collections-based program with iNaturalist.

Bee monitoring, or widespread efforts to document bee community biodiversity, can involve data collection using lethal (specimen collections) or non-lethal methods (observations, photographs). Additionally, data can be collected by professional scientists or by volunteer participants from the general public. Collection-based methods presumably produce more reliable data with fewer biases against certain taxa, while photography-based approaches, such as data collected from public natural history platforms like iNaturalist, can involve more people and cover a broader geographic area. Few efforts have been made to quantify the pros and cons of these different approaches. We established a community science monitoring program to assess bee biodiversity across the state of Pennsylvania (USA) using specimen collections with nets, blue vane traps, and bowl traps. We recruited 26 participants, mostly Master Gardeners, from across the state to sample bees after receiving extensive training on bee monitoring topics and methods. The specimens they collected were identified to species, stored in museum collections, and the data added to public databases. Then, we compared the results from our collections to research-grade observations from iNaturalist during the same time period (2021 and 2022). At state and county levels, we found collections data documented over twice as much biodiversity and novel baseline natural history data (state and county records) than data from iNaturalist. iNaturalist data showed strong biases toward large-bodied and non-native species. This study demonstrates the value of highly trained community scientists for collections-based research that aims to document patterns of bee biodiversity over space and time.

A phylogenetic study of Micareamelaeniza and similar-looking species (Pilocarpaceae) unveils hidden diversity and clarifies species boundaries and reproduction modes.

Micarea (Ascomycota, Pilocarpaceae) is a large cosmopolitan genus of crustose lichens. We investigated molecular systematics and taxonomy of the poorly known Micareamelaeniza group focussing on M.melaeniza, M.nigella and M.osloensis. A total of 54 new sequences were generated and using Bayesian and maximum likelihood analysis of two markers (nuITS and mtSSU), we discovered two previously unrecognized phylogenetic lineages, one of which is described here as Micareaeurasiatica Kantelinen & G. Thor, sp. nov., morphologically characterized by pycnidia that are sessile to emergent, cylindrically shaped, with greenish-black K+ olive green, wall pigmentation and containing large mesoconidia up to 6 µm in length. The species is known from Japan and Finland. In addition, we show that the reproduction biology of M.osloensis has been poorly understood and that the species often occurs as an anamorph with stipitate pycnidia. We present a species synopsis and notes on pigments. Our research supports previous results of asexuality being an important reproductive strategy of species growing on dead wood.

A decision methodology for site-level ecosystem accounting.

The United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) framework is the international standard for ecosystem accounting. To date, application of SEEA EA has been predominantly at large scales, usually at landscape and national levels. However, many environmental management decisions are taken locally, in site-specific contexts. While the use of SEEA EA continues to develop at all scales, there is currently no widely endorsed methodology for employing SEEA EA at local scales, such as the site level. We present a methodology for developing site-level ecosystem accounts, describing the important decisions at each step of the process. We also provide two case studies that demonstrate the context-dependent nature of the decision-making process of ecosystem accounting at small scales. The two major challenges for site-level accounting are stakeholder engagement and data availability. As the use of SEEA EA continues to increase in policy and decision-making processes worldwide, there is a need for local-scale case studies that adapt this methodology across a broad range of contexts. Our case studies provide some of the first published examples of the application of SEEA EA at the site level and are intended to promote consistent implementation of ecosystem accounting across scales.

Biogeographical distribution and community assembly of Myxococcota in mangrove sediments.

BACKGROUND: Myxococcota, characterized by their distinct social lifestyles, are widely distributed micro-predators in global sediments. They can feed on a wide range of bacterial, archaeal, and fungal prey. Myxococcota are capable of producing diverse secondary metabolites, playing key roles in microbial food webs, and regulating the microbial community structures in different ecosystems. However, Myxococcota are rarely pure cultured due to the challenging and stringent culturing conditions. Their natural distribution, niche differentiation, and predator-prey relationships in a specific habitat are poorly understood. RESULTS: In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence data from public databases and our collection. We compared the abundance, diversity, and distribution patterns of Myxococcota in various habitats, with a specific focus on mangroves. We found that Myxococcota accounted for 1.45% of the total prokaryotes in global sediments based on the abundance of 16S rRNA genes. Myxococcota are abundant and diverse in mangrove sediments. They tend to be more generalistic in mangroves than in other habitats due to their wide niche breadth. Besides, the deterministic processes (variable selection) influenced the assembly of mangrove Myxococcota communities significantly more than stochastic processes. Further, we determined that environmental factors explained a greater amount of total community variation in mangrove Myxococcota than geographical variables (latitude and sediment depth). In the end, through the analysis of microbial co-occurrence networks, Myxococcota emerges as a key component and functions as a connector in the mangrove microbial community. CONCLUSIONS: Our study enhances comprehension of mangrove Myxococcota's biogeography, assembly patterns, driving factors, and co-occurrence relationships, as well as highlights their unique niche and ecological importance in mangrove sediments.

Forecasting potential invaders to prevent future biological invasions worldwide.

The ever-increasing and expanding globalisation of trade and transport underpins the escalating global problem of biological invasions. Developing biosecurity infrastructures is crucial to anticipate and prevent the transport and introduction of invasive alien species. Still, robust and defensible forecasts of potential invaders are rare, especially for species without known invasion history. Here, we aim to support decision-making by developing a quantitative invasion risk assessment tool based on invasion syndromes (i.e., generalising typical attributes of invasive alien species). We implemented a workflow based on 'Multiple Imputation with Chain Equation' to estimate invasion syndromes from imputed datasets of species' life-history and ecological traits and macroecological patterns. Importantly, our models disentangle the factors explaining (i) transport and introduction and (ii) establishment. We showcase our tool by modelling the invasion syndromes of 466 amphibians and reptile species with invasion history. Then, we project these models to amphibians and reptiles worldwide (16,236 species [c.76% global coverage]) to identify species with a risk of being unintentionally transported and introduced, and risk of establishing alien populations. Our invasion syndrome models showed high predictive accuracy with a good balance between specificity and generality. Unintentionally transported and introduced species tend to be common and thrive well in human-disturbed habitats. In contrast, those with established alien populations tend to be large-sized, are habitat generalists, thrive well in human-disturbed habitats, and have large native geographic ranges. We forecast that 160 amphibians and reptiles without known invasion history could be unintentionally transported and introduced in the future. Among them, 57 species have a high risk of establishing alien populations. Our reliable, reproducible, transferable, statistically robust and scientifically defensible quantitative invasion risk assessment tool is a significant new addition to the suite of decision-support tools needed for developing a future-proof preventative biosecurity globally.

Assessing the role of habitat, climate, and anthropization gradients on terrestrial mammal diversity in the western Mediterranean basin.

Mammal species globally exhibit distribution patterns conditioned by environmental conditions and human impact. The Mediterranean basin provides an ideal system to study these effects due to its diverse climate, and habitat conditions. In this work, we aim to assess the impact of landscape heterogeneity and anthropization degree on terrestrial mammal diversity in this region. Accordingly, we deployed over 300 camera traps across 28 sites for 3 months. Detected mammal species (weighing more than 1kg) were classified as domestic carnivores, domestic ungulates, wild carnivores, wild ungulates, lagomorphs, and large rodents. Alpha and beta diversity were calculated for each group and all wild mammals. Simple linear regressions and multimodal analysis were conducted between mammal diversities and climate, environmental conditions, landscape heterogeneity, and anthropization degree variables. Redundancy analyses were performed to identify variables and species determining the mammalian community composition. Indexes measuring landscape heterogeneity, anthropization degree, and its 30-year change did not correlate with mammal diversity. However, the difference in elevation within sites and domestic carnivore abundance showed a significant positive correlation with some of the diversity indexes. Nonetheless, rainfall and mean elevation factors generally showed the highest correlation with mammal diversity. Instead, a few influential species, including generalists and open-habitat specialists, highlighted the importance of conserving open areas, as well as the importance of the Pyrenees region as a key habitat for certain species. Therefore, climatic variables emerged as the key determinants of mammal diversity, highlighting climate change as a potential threat to mammal diversity in this area.

Urban greenspace types and climate factors jointly drive the microbial community structure and co-occurrence network.

The benefits of urban green space are socially widely recognized as a direct link between plant-microbe interactions and the maintenance of biodiversity, community stability, and ecosystem functioning. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about the factors influencing microbial communities in urban green spaces, especially those related to phyllosphere epiphytes and stem epiphytes. In this study, we analyzed the microbial community assembly in leaf and stem bark samples collected from Square, Road, Campus, and Park. Illumina sequecing of 16S amplicons was performed to characterize microbial diversity and composition. The α-diversity was significantly higher in the bark epiphytic community, compared to the phyllosphere. Moreover, urban greenspaces'type altered the way communities gathered. The main soil and air properties factors of the urban greenhouse (e.g. soil temperature, atmospheric moisture, air temperature) were shaping the characteristics of bacterial communities on the leaf surface and bark epiphytic. In addition, in the co-occurrence network analysis, keystone taxa were not mostly observed in abundant species, which may be necessary to maintain ecosystem functions. Finally, our findings provide a deeper understanding of the ecological dynamics and microbial interactions within plant phyllosphere and stem epiphytes microbiomes.

Establishing Silphids in the invertebrate DNA toolbox: a proof of concept.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses are an increasingly popular tool for assessing biodiversity. eDNA sampling that uses invertebrates, or invertebrate DNA (iDNA), has become a more common method in mammal biodiversity studies where biodiversity is assessed via diet analysis of different coprophagous or hematophagous invertebrates. The carrion feeding family of beetles (Silphidae: Coleoptera, Latreille (1807)), have not yet been established as a viable iDNA source in primary scientific literature, yet could be useful indicators for tracking biodiversity in forested ecosystems. Silphids find carcasses of varying size for both food and reproduction, with some species having host preference for small mammals; therefore, iDNA Silphid studies could potentially target small mammal communities. To establish the first valid use of iDNA methods to detect Silphid diets, we conducted a study with the objective of testing the validity of iDNA methods applied to Silphids using both Sanger sequencing and high throughput Illumina sequencing. Beetles were collected using inexpensive pitfall traps in Alberta, Michigan in 2019 and 2022. We successfully sequenced diet DNA and environmental DNA from externally swabbed Silphid samples and diet DNA from gut dissections, confirming their potential as an iDNA tool in mammalian studies. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of Silphids for iDNA research where we detected species from the genera Anaxyrus, Blarina, Procyon, Condylura, Peromyscus, Canis, and Bos. Our results highlight the potential for Silphid iDNA to be used in future wildlife surveys.

Experimental evaluation of genetic variability based on DNA metabarcoding from the aquatic environment: Insights from the Leray COI fragment.

Intraspecific genetic variation is important for the assessment of organisms' resistance to changing environments and anthropogenic pressures. Aquatic DNA metabarcoding provides a non-invasive method in biodiversity research, including investigations at the within-species level. Through the analysis of eDNA samples collected from the Peter the Great Gulf of the Japan Sea, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the identification of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) in marine eDNA among abundant species of the Zostera sp. community: Hexagrammos octogrammus, Pholidapus dybowskii (Teleostei: Perciformes), and Pandalus latirostris (Arthropoda: Decapoda). These species were collected from two distant locations to produce mock communities and gather aquatic eDNA both on the community and individual level. Our approach highlights the efficacy of eDNA metabarcoding in capturing haplotypic diversity and the potential for this methodology to track genetic diversity accurately, contributing to conservation efforts and ecosystem management. Additionally, our results elucidate the impact of nuclear mitochondrial DNA segments (NUMTs) on the reliability of metabarcoding data, indicating the necessity for cautious interpretation of such data in ecological studies. Moreover, we analyzed 83 publicly available COI sequence datasets from common groups of multicellular organisms (Mollusca, Echinodermata, Crustacea, Polychaeta, and Actinopterygii). The results reflect the decrease in population diversity that arises from using the metabarcode compared to the COI barcode.

Microbial diversity and oil biodegradation potential of northern Barents Sea sediments.

The Arctic, an essential ecosystem on Earth, is subject to pronounced anthropogenic pressures, most notable being the climate change and risks of crude oil pollution. As crucial elements of Arctic environments, benthic microbiomes are involved in climate-relevant biogeochemical cycles and hold the potential to remediate upcoming contamination. Yet, the Arctic benthic microbiomes are among the least explored biomes on the planet. Here we combined geochemical analyses, incubation experiments, and microbial community profiling to detail the biogeography and biodegradation potential of Arctic sedimentary microbiomes in the northern Barents Sea. The results revealed a predominance of bacterial and archaea phyla typically found in the deep marine biosphere, such as Chloroflexi, Atribacteria, and Bathyarcheaota. The topmost benthic communities were spatially structured by sedimentary organic carbon, lacking a clear distinction among geographic regions. With increasing sediment depth, the community structure exhibited stratigraphic variability that could be correlated to redox geochemistry of sediments. The benthic microbiomes harbored multiple taxa capable of oxidizing hydrocarbons using aerobic and anaerobic pathways. Incubation of surface sediments with crude oil led to proliferation of several genera from the so-called rare biosphere. These include Alkalimarinus and Halioglobus, previously unrecognized as hydrocarbon-degrading genera, both harboring the full genetic potential for aerobic alkane oxidation. These findings increase our understanding of the taxonomic inventory and functional potential of unstudied benthic microbiomes in the Arctic.

Ten lessons learned from the mass digitisation of a herbarium collection.

Worldwide, herbaria maintain collections of reference specimens representing global plant diversity. These collections are a valuable resource for fundamental botanical research and applied scientific research across various disciplines, and play a significant role in addressing major societal challenges such as biodiversity conservation. The digitisation of herbarium specimens and their online dissemination is one of the most important recent developments in the curation of these collections. Digitisation significantly enhances access to the collections for the research community and facilitates large-scale analysis of biodiversity data. Digitisation also provides a means for preserving the physical specimens, as it reduces the need for handling and transportation. Rapid technological developments have greatly accelerated the rate of databasing and digital imaging of collections. Meise Botanic Garden recently completed a six-year project to mass digitise its herbarium collections of about 3 million specimens mounted on sheets and through this process we have learned valuable lessons. We have captured our experience in 10 recommendations for other collection-holding institutions to take inspiration from as they start planning their own digitisation efforts. We also present case studies where we delve deeper into certain topics as examples.

Declining glacier cover drives changes in aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity in the Cordillera Blanca, Perú.

Ongoing climate change threatens the biodiversity of glacier-fed river ecosystems worldwide through shifts in water availability and timing, temperature, chemistry, and channel stability. However, tropical glacier-fed rivers have received little attention compared to those in temperate and Arctic biomes, despite their unique biodiversity potentially responding differently due to additional stress from higher altitude locations thus lower oxygen availability, diurnal freeze-thaw cycles, and annual monsoon rainfall disturbances. However, tropical glacier-fed rivers have received little attention compared to those in temperate and Arctic biomes, despite their unique biodiversity potentially responding differently due to additional stress from higher altitude locations thus lower oxygen availability, diurnal freeze-thaw cycles, and annual monsoon rainfall disturbances. This study quantified aquatic biodiversity responses to decreasing glacier cover in the Cordillera Blanca range of the Peruvian Andes. Ten rivers were studied along a gradient of decreasing glacier cover in the Parón, Huaytapallana, and Llanganuco basins, with a specific focus on macroinvertebrates and physicochemical parameters in both the dry and wet seasons. We found higher temperatures, more stable and lower turbidity rivers as glacier cover decreased, which were related significantly to higher local diversity and lower ß-diversity. Analysis of similarity revealed significant differences in the macroinvertebrate community among rivers with high, medium, or low glacier cover, illustrating turnover from specialists to generalists as glacial influence decreased. Redundancy analysis demonstrated that there were more species found to prefer stable beds and water temperatures in medium and low glacier cover in a catchment rivers. However, certain taxa in groups such as Paraheptagyia, Orthocladiinae, Anomalocosmoecus, and Limonia may be adapted to high glacial influence habitats and at risk of glacier retreat. Although species composition was different to other biomes, the Cordillera Blanca rivers showed similar benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity responses to glacier retreat, supporting the hypothesis that climate change will have predictable effects on aquatic biodiversity in mountain ranges worldwide.

Distribution of the genus Platycerus Geoffroy (Coleoptera, Lucanidae) in Italy.

Background: Stag beetles are saproxylic species that are associated with deadwood in the larval stage and play an important role in forest ecosystem dynamics. In Italy, Platyceruscaprea and Platyceruscaraboides are two small, elusive stag beetle species, whose known distribution is often limited or referring to old records. New information: The present contribution increases the knowledge on the Italian distribution of P.caprea and P.caraboides, adding 70% more sites when compared to previously published records. Ecological traits, especially related to the altitude-elevation distribution in Italy, are also described for these saproxylic beetles.

New method for taxonomic descriptions with coded notation, producing dynamic and interchangeable output.

A proposal for taxonomic species description notation is presented to replace the traditional descriptive texts for a coded matrix, avoiding redundant adjectives and subjective descriptions. This is an attempt to enhance the species description rate and to make the descriptions output available to other scientific disciplines, machine learning, interactive and computer-assisted identification keys, metadata analysis and its applications. The method consists of presenting the description of the overall morphology in a coded matrix, following a character list with detailed observed conditions for each character. The method is dynamic and open to amendments and new data addition as they become available. We test the new method describing five new species of Collembola Symphypleona of the genus Pararrhopalites as a generalized model and made the coded output available. We conclude that a coded taxonomic description is an advance to the traditional taxonomic text, with potential to enhance the global descriptions rate. The generated descriptions are dynamic, expandable and can be easily used in other fields of science, allowing non-experts to access the data for phylogenetic, biogeographic, ecological studies and metadata analysis. Even though an experienced taxonomist will always be necessary to make a detailed taxonomic description, it is a step forward to a general template to semi-automated taxon recognition and to future development of auxiliary tools for species description using machine learning and templates to speed up the time-consuming phase of schematic figures preparation, after the expert interpretations are done.