THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SWEDISH FLORA AND FAUNA / NATIONALNYCKELN TILL SVERIGES FLORA OCH FAUNA

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An extraordinary project which will publish circa 120 volumes in the 20-25 years from 2005 onward. NHBS is accepting standing orders for the series.

In 2001 ArtDatabanken (Swedish Species Information Centre) was appointed to direct and co-ordinate the so called "Swedish Taxonomy Initiative", one of the most fundamental components of which is a thorough taxonomic investigation of poorly known organism groups. This part of the project aims to produce a series of identification handbooks with keys in Swedish and English to the Swedish plant and animal species - "The Encyclopedia of the Swedish Flora and Fauna".

All Swedish species
The Encyclopedia of the Swedish Flora and Fauna will constitute a series of identification handbooks in Swedish, which will be published in both paper and electronic editions. The 50 000 species which can be identified without highly advanced equipment will be described in detail, including information on distribution and biology. For most of them, distribution maps as well as illustrations e.g. watercolours will also be provided. The groups containing the remaining 30 000 species will be presented down to a suitable taxonomic level (e.g. families), with the species presented as checklists.

All texts are written in Swedish, but each species has a short English summary - Key facts. Many high quality illustrations, distribution maps and illustrated indentification keys in both Swedish and English makes the books valuable for an international audience.

A great number of authors will be needed to complete The Encyclopedia of the Swedish Flora and Fauna. The texts will be written by senior scientists and other species experts. Several species groups will often be included in one volume, which will require co-operation between authors. If the author is not a professional taxonomist, he or she will co-operate closely with domestic/international taxonomic experts.

The plans for the realisation of the project are continously being outlined. We would therefore like to know which specialists are available as prospective authors. Perhaps you might be interested in participating?

The editorial board will, of course, in many cases actively approach potential authors, but our work would be greatly facilitated if people interested in participating would contact us. Groups of potential authors planning to co-operate are encouraged to apply jointly.

Illustrators
In order to make The Swedish Flora and Fauna Encyclopedia attractive and useful to non-professionals, a great number of species will be illustrated with beautiful colour illustrations. The illustrations will have to meet very high demands in terms of detail and accuracy. During the spring of 2002 we actively approached potential illustrators and now hundreds have shown their interest. If you would like to contribute as an illustrator, you are welcome to send us a written application!