Beyond the “Code”: A Guide to the Description and Documentation of Biodiversity in Ciliated Protists (Alveolata, Ciliophora)

Recent advances in molecular technology have revolutionized research on allaspects of the biology of organisms, including ciliates, and created unprece-dented opportunities for pursuing a more integrative approach to investigationsof biodiversity. However, this goal is complicated by large gaps and inconsis-tencies that still exist in the foundation of basic information about biodiversityof ciliates. The present paper reviews issues relating to the taxonomy of cili-ates and presents specific recommendations for best practice in the observa-tion and documentation of their biodiversity. This effort stems from aworkshop that explored ways to implement six Grand Challenges proposed bythe International Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of Ciliates(IRCN-BC). As part of its commitment to strengthening the knowledge basethat supports research on biodiversity of ciliates, the IRCN-BC proposes topopulate The Ciliate Guide, an online database, with biodiversity-related dataand metadata to create a resource that will facilitate accurate taxonomic identi-fications and promote sharing of data.