Les séminaires de l'ISYEB - Richard Mooi, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.

What role can museum-based, scientific exploration play at a time when large-scale expeditions of the past are sometimes seen as relicts of expansionist regimes ? The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands situated at the apex of the Coral Triangle, and home to the most diverse coral reefs on Earth. New Philippine records and discovery of taxa previously unknown to science indicate that species richness estimates are conservative. Faced with the urgency of climate change and other anthropogenic challenges, we need new approaches to conservation efforts aimed at documenting and retaining all Coral Triangle biodiversity. The California Academy of Sciences’ 2011 Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition and 2014-2016 Verde Island Passage Expeditions were conceived in a time when the role of natural history museums must change not only to enhance survival of biodiversity, but also their own survival and relevance. The Academy is developing a model that combines private and public funding, international collaborations, and broadened taxonomic expertise to assess biodiversity in the waters south of Luzon with an overall aim of elucidating the value of these natural resources, and helping local and federal government agencies enhance policies as they work towards a "Blue Economy". These efforts are reviewed in the light of moving landscapes (seascapes ?) of logistics, work with Philippine partner institutions, outreach and in-country capacity-building, and expeditionary permitting protocols. In the process, we will look at some of the scientific results that make the Philippines such a compelling and vital place to explore, explain, and sustain biodiversity.