Tropical forests and reefs cover less than 10% of the earth's surface, yet they contain over half of the world's species. The flora and fauna of these regions are the most poorly known on earth. There is an urgent need to conduct baseline biotic inventories, faunal and floral surveys, and systematic studies to document the existing biodiversity in these ecosystems and to provide information critical to managing conservation efforts. The primary goal must be to document tropical diversity and to derive hypotheses of systematic relationships, evolution, and biogeography among species of tropical plants and animals.