Inventories Under Development
Discovering and knowing well all the species on the planet will require diverse inventory approaches largely depending upon the taxa themselves. However, three general approaches will get ALL's objectives well down the road. The first is finishing off some significant taxa globally that are already largely well known. This is the intention of ALL's joint venture in development with NSF, called "Planetary Biodiversity Inventories". The second is to make sure all biotic zones within a defined geographic area are sampled for the species they contain- this information is basic to knowing where species live and their distribution. A model for this kind of inventory is being developed jointly between ALL and Conservation International, in particular to do so in a rapid, 12-month time frame. Thirdly, ALL is discussing with the National Park Service ways in which they can expand their inventory activities into full scale all-species inventories.

• National Science Foundation
• Conservation International
• National Park Service

National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation, The ALL Species Foundation, (and another private foundation potentially) are discussing the joint funding of a whole new initiative at NSF. Our plan is to make this a jointly-sponsored special competition entitled Planetary Biodiversity Inventories (PBI), within the Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories (BS&I) program. Proposals would be invited from teams of investigators to conduct a worldwide, species-level systematic inventory of an entire major group of organisms. Proposals could target any particular group of organisms, from terrestrial, fresh-water, or marine habitats, at any feasible level in the taxonomic hierarchy, but must be global in scope. Assuming a sufficient number of high-quality proposals and the availability of funds, we would anticipate making 2 to 4 five-year awards totaling about $14 million. The ALL Species Foundation is committing to raise $0.5 million per year, for a period of five years, for this initiative.

All-species inventories of major taxa would demonstrate the feasibility of accomplishing global surveys within reasonable time frames. They would provide the first rigorous models for answering global-scale questions with anything more than geographically arbitrary fragments of information. No projects of this magnitude have ever been attempted; each will require significant resources over a sustained period, depending on the size of the group, available expertise, and the current state of knowledge. Because the oceans that dominate our planet are so seriously under-sampled, at least one award will be targeted specifically to a marine group of organisms.

If negotiations continue on track, we plan to announce this competition this summer, with a target date of applications due January 2003, and awards issued in the spring of 2003.

Conservation International
The outstanding work of Conservation International (CI) is well known to many, especially their Rapid Assessment Program, but their newly formed Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) is just being launched. Through a major grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, CABS is in the process of establishing several long-term monitoring field stations within important tropical ecosystems in order to enable scientists to recognize early warnings of major shifts in the status of biodiversity.

ALL Species is in the midst of promising conversations with CI where we hope to partner in the creation of a model for an ideal "rapid all species inventory". Our mutual goal would be to inventory as much as possible in a well-defined geographic area of extremely rich biodiversity in a defined 12-month period. This would take CI's current inventory approach (relatively cursory) to a whole new level (expansive and verging on thorough).

Both organizations have agreed that a "rapid all species inventory" period could provide CI with invaluable and essential baseline data which CI scientists could then utilize in their focus to conserve critically endangered species and for extinction prevention.

National Park Service
As part of The Natural Resource Challenge, a National Park Service (NPS) initiative which endorses limited Inventory and Monitoring, the NPS is gathering the necessary political and organizational momentum to conduct all-species inventories in key park units that are rich in biodiversity and smaller scale inventories in some other park units. While the Great Smoky Mountains National Park ATBI has been done outside of the Natural Resource Challenge Initiative, it has met with great overall success and many aspects of the Smokies ATBI can be used as a model for other parks.

We have been in conversations with NPS all spring discussing strategic collaborations and developing a Cooperative Agreement. A two-day strategic planning meeting to explore expansion of the Great Smokies ATBI to other parks was held 10-11 June 2002 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and was attended by several ALL Board members and staff, high level NPS representatives from Washington, representatives from national parks from Hawaii to Maine, the National Park Foundation, and Discover Life in America. Dan Janzen gave an inspiring presentation on his work in Costa Rica.

The meeting helped draw a distinction between the funding for the limited inventory of vascular plants and vertebrates under the Natural Resource Challenge---and the more comprehensive all species inventories which will require additional funding. The discussions in the Great Smokies reaffirmed our sense there is tremendous interest in a project of this scale and scope, from the scientific community and the general public to media and funders.

As an organization dedicated to accelerating the rate of species discovery and new species information accessibility, ALL is uniquely able to contribute to the global positioning of NPS "all species inventories" with strategy, media, fundraising, IT tools, and engagement of the taxonomic community. We are proud to help NPS in this capacity and look forward to a mutually beneficial formal partnership soon.

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