An understudied phylum? Conservation consequences of the historic lack of echinoderm taxonomists

The phylum Echinodermata is a familiar constituent of almost every marine environment and a predominant portion of the fauna in some regions. As with most marine taxa, the clade is currently threatened by a range of human mediated threats ranging in scale from the global consequences of climate change to local extinctions driven by disturbance, pollution and overfishing. In part due to their evolutionary and life history traits, echinoderms are often subject to dramatic swings in population size in the face of these threats, with knock on effects for their genetic diversity and population viability. Proper conservation of species and regional populations requires accurate taxonomic assessment to define species statuses and range size parameters, yet despite being the largest exclusively marine phylum, with more than 7000 accepted species, the Echinodermata have been comparatively understudied amongst marine clades. Herein we show the lack of taxonomic activity across the phylum has been dominated by a small number of experts and is unusually low for such a large clade. We discuss the ways in which the lack of taxonomic certainty and the over-application of names across cryptic or misidentified diversity has, in part, contributed to conservation pressures and complicated conservation measures, with discussion of invasive species, echinoderm fisheries and the complex biodiversity of the Southern Ocean.