Collections Online Project Coordinator and EOL Rubenstein Fellow
Joanne Taylor in the collection store.
Source: Museum Victoria
Dr Joanne Taylor has worked on marine crustaceans at Museum Victoria since 1994.
Background
Dr Joanne Taylor is the Collections Online Project Co-ordinator in the Sciences Department at Museum Victoria. Throughout her career, Jo has been an enthusiastic supporter of the drive to present taxonomic information to a wide audience most recently having co-edited the book The Biology of Squat Lobsters and presented online interactive identification guides to the world's species of squat lobsters.
As Comarge Research Fellow (2009-2011), Jo published new species from the squat lobster family Munidopsidae in the Australian region and a preliminary phylogeny of the group with Australian colleagues. Prior to this appointment, she managed the Marine Invertebrate Collections at Museum Victoria from 2001, in doing so supporting the research activities of a wide network of local and international colleagues.
Jo has a broad interest in crustaceans and marine biology generally having published on the Australian fauna of the amphipod family Phoxocephalidae, and caridean family Crangonidae. Jo is the Indo-Pacific Governor of The Crustacean Society and a current Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) Rubenstein Fellow (2012-2013).
Current activities
Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) Rubenstein Fellowship
The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) operates as an ongoing collaboration of individuals and organizations who share the vision to provide global access to knowledge about life on Earth. Funded by a generous gift by David M. Rubenstein to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the EOL Rubenstein Fellows Program provides support for scientists to serve information about the organisms they study through the Encyclopedia of Life.
The aim of Jo's Rubenstein Fellowship is to provide data and images for over 400 species of squat lobsters from 13 genera. A striking feature of squat lobsters is their vivid coloration, which will be revealed in a selection of spectacular images accompanying many of the species descriptions.
Squat Lobsters Research
Squat lobsters of the superfamilies Chirostyloidea and Galatheoidea are highly visible crustaceans on seamounts, continental margins, shelf environments, hydrothermal vents and coral reefs. About 1000 species are known. They frequently feature in deep-sea images taken by submersibles and are caught in large numbers by benthic dredges. Some species are so locally abundant that they form 'red tides'. Others support a variety of important fisheries. The 2011 publication of the bookThe Biology of Squat Lobsters of which Jo was a co-editor was a timely synthesis of what is known about these animals.
The taxonomy of squat lobsters has been intensively studied over the past few decades, making them one of the best known deepwater crustacean groups. In collaboration with colleagues at the Australian Museum and Australian Institute of Marine Science, Jo continues to study the phylogeny of this group, research which was originally funded by COMARGE and partly supported by the Australian Museum's Geddes Visiting Research Fellowship.
Port Phillip Bay Taxonomic Toolkit
In collaboration with the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Jo is contributing to the preparation of a website dedicated to marine life in Victoria's Port Phillip and nearby waters. It is primarily a tool to assist researchers and amateur biologists to identify species, but the site also has a spectacular visual gallery of photographs.
Crangonid shrimp species from Australia
The project synthesises information from many sources to enable marine biologists to identify to genus (or to species in Australia) the known taxa of sand shrimp. DELTA software is being used to compile data and to generate interactive keys and diagnoses.