Academic

Buy Your Own Species

By Kim Krawiec

Or at least the naming rights.  Via Wired Science:

Retired NBA player Luc Longley, who won three straight championships with former Tarheel Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, recently bestowed the name Lebbeus clarehanna (after his 15-year-old daughter, Clare Hanna Longley) on a newly discovered species of shrimp that lives on the southwest coast of Australia.  Anna McCallum, now a doctoral student at the University of Melbourne, discovered the shrimp while working as an assistant on a research boat. Rather than naming it herself, she auctioned the right to name the shrimp on eBay and donated the proceeds to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.  Longley won the auction, with a bid of $2,900.

Selling naming rights to newly-identified species is by no means a novel development. In 2005, the Wildlife Conservation Society raised $650,000 in a one-week Internet auction of a newly identified Bolivian monkey.  And in Monaco in 2007, Prince Albert II hosted a black-tie event at which rights to name 10 newly discovered species of fish were auctioned for more than $2 million, raising money for conservation efforts in eastern Indonesia (bidders in that auction had to pledge to name the species after people and not corporate entities).  These days, conservation groups, universities, and museums frequently auction naming rights to newly-identified species as a fund-raising move, though this appears to be the first purchase by a former NBA player (Longley has been involved in marine conservation efforts before).

The new trend in naming rights has interested both the public and corporate interests (see, for example, the GoldenPalace.com Monkey and the spiny worm named after the Nokia slogan "Connecting People").  Yet others worry about such commercialization of science. 

Some scientists contend that, given the scarcity of government funding and the increasing threats to biodiversity, squeamishness over naming rights is a luxury the scientific community can?t afford.  But others, such as Dr. Ellinor Michel, executive secretary of the London-based International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, contend that ?once you start putting prices on things, the basic economic rule is that if it's something people want to buy, you manufacture more. And in principle, you shouldn't manufacture species."

Moreover, according to Michel, most new species come from developing countries, which grant research permits to scientists.  If scientists and non-profits outside of those countries make money through selling naming rights to the species, the country may feel cheated and cancel research permits.

If any Lounge readers are pondering what to buy me as a holiday gift, a species named after one of my articles or book chapters would be most welcome.  I wonder if it would impact the SSRN downloads?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on December 05, 2009 (boomark / email).