All of these components are combined into a computerized taxonomic key. James Smithson Society's Costa Rican Biodiversity Project With funds provided by the James Smithson Society Grant, The Diptera Unit, through the work of Fairman, under the direction of F. Christian Thompson and Wayne N. Mathis , is conducting a pilot study on the Dissemination and repatriation of specimen-based natural history information. Costa Rica was selected as the target to aid their national effort towards the sustainable use and conservation of wild biodiversity. The Diptera Unit will provide a species inventory of the Smithsonian collections of Diptera, with an indication of those from Costa Rica. These inventories will be documented by images of typical specimens.
Biodiversity holds the promise of sustainable development for the world.
Terrestrial arthropods provide the broadcast and finest-scale description of the biosphere as there are more species and individuals with longer histories and greater variation. Thus for entomology, our challenge is to manage the data associated with our specimens efficiently and effectively to increase knowledge and to disseminate the derived information. Using flies, one of the major groups of arthropods in size and importance to man, we will address this challenge, demonstrating that arthropods are the key to utilizing biodiversity for sustainable development.