Deep-sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop, Colombia 2019

Corals are some of the conspicuous taxa in deep-sea ecosystems. Yet, characterizing coral diversity is difficult and requires a combination of both morphological and genetic data. Many leading coral taxonomy experts are close-to retirement or have already retired. It is now imperative that the hands-on expertise that these taxonomists have – much of which is not captured in manuscripts or books – is transferred to the next generation. The Deep-Sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop, funded by a Lounsbery award from the Deep-Sea Biology Society, aimed to provide a training opportunities and build taxonomic capacity in Colombia and Latin America. Workshop participants examined the deep-sea coral diversity of the southern western Caribbean, a poorly explored region. The three-day workshop was based mainly on hands-on activities focused on octocorals and black corals, and included introductory talks to the taxonomy of these groups and identification activities using specimens. Thanks to the workshop, it was possible to review and update the classification database of the Makuriwa Marine Natural History Museum collection. Additionally, four new species from the families Clavulariidae, Plexauridae and Gorgoniidae were identified and will be described in the near future. ‡ § | ¶ © Dueñas L et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.


Introduction
Corals are some of the most iconic taxa in marine ecosystems, with over 70% of all coral species found in the deep-sea. Coral taxonomy is difficult and has rapidly changed as molecular data is combined with morphological observations. As their shallow-water counterparts, deep-sea corals suffer from taxonomic issues due to hybridization, character lability, recent speciation, and phenotypic plasticity, among others (Forsman et al. 2015, Dueñas andSánchez 2009). Although molecular techniques are now commonly employed to confirm the identification of specimens, traditional taxonomy is essential for the initial identification of species and paramount for the description of new ones. A new synthesis, or integrative taxonomy, requires stronger expertise in both molecular and morphological aspects (Sheth and Thaker 2017), and this is why traditional taxonomy must be kept alive (Bik 2017).
Many leading coral taxonomy experts are close to or already retired, and their positions are unfortunately not being replaced. It is now imperative that their expertise and knowledge is transferred to emerging taxonomists (early-career scientists, promising students, and museum staff), much of which is nearly impossible to acquire via manuscripts or books. Workshops are an excellent way in which knowledge is transferred from an expert to more than one emerging taxonomist at a time.
The Makuriwa Museum holds the largest deep-sea coral collection in Colombia, with 2631 lots from the southern Caribbean and the Pacific, product of two decades of sampling. Many of these samples come from deep-sea coral formations in the Colombian Pacific and Caribbean, including the Deepwater Corals National Natural Park, a Marine Protected Area created specifically to protect deep-sea coral ecosystems. Although the curators who have worked in the Makuriwa Museum have worked to identify the specimens, hundreds of lots remain virtually untouched. The knowledge of deep-sea biodiversity in the Caribbean has increased in the last years. However, most of it remains unexplored. For this reason, it was crucial to have emerging taxonomists, students, and local scientists gain taxonomic expertise by working alongside leading coral taxonomy experts to shed some light not only on taxonomic identification, but in deep-sea coral biodiversity.

Goals
The Deep-Sea Coral Taxonomy Workshop brought together international deep-sea coral taxonomy experts, emerging taxonomists, students, and local scientists to: 1.
provide a training opportunity for the next generation of deep-sea coral taxonomists; 2.
nurture taxonomic capacity building in Colombia and Latin America broadly; and 3.
advance the knowledge of deep-sea coral diversity in the southern western Caribbean.

Agenda
The workshop was mainly a hands-on experience that focused on the study of Octocorallia and Antipatharia. The activities during the workshop included introductory talks about the taxonomy of these groups, a tour through the Makuriwa Museum and identification activities focused on different octocoral and black coral families using biological samples (   Thanks to the workshop, in a three-day activity, it was possible to review and update the taxonomic classification of 111 samples from the collection. This particular task would have taken months to achieve for the curator on her own. Additionally, four new species from the families Clavulariidae, Plexauridae and Gorgoniidae were identified and will be described in the near future.

List of participants
This workshop, the first of its kind in Latin America, provided a unique opportunity for capacity building in the region, and advanced knowledge of deep-sea coral biodiversity in the Caribbean. We are confident this workshop built long-lasting networks of collaborators that will carry-on the taxonomic work in this important animal group.