Wetlands act as islands of high biodiversity within the ecological landscape and provide crucial ecosystem services to society. Anthropogenic activities are driving wetland degradation and it has become increasingly rare to find wetlands that do not show signs of biodiversity loss or alteration. The exacerbated loss of biodiversity in wetlands has a negative impact on the local economy and ecosystem services provided by these systems. We responded to the South African National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) call to document wetland biodiversity against the backdrop of sustained wetland degradation in southern Africa. We monitored the soundscape of a high-elevation wetland in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park (GGHNP) from June 2019 to December 2020 across 24 localities using a rolling grid layout. We detected 35.9% of the avian species previously recorded from ad hoc sightings in the GGHNP of which 68.1% are wetland obligate species. We contributed an additional 10.2% new species records to the avian diversity of the GGHNP, including 24 species that are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Our remote monitoring technique enabled the first ever continuous monitoring using remote acoustic equipment for a high-elevation wetland in South Africa, thus providing a valuable contribution to the NBA call.

The state of systematics, a vital biological discipline investigating fundamental questions about the earth's biological diversity, is currently the subject of concern amongst the UK scientific and political communities. The scope of this complex field is redefined in terms of a number of linked agendas. Currently, key areas of research can be divided into the reconstruction of phylogeny and taxonomy, here defined as the description, delimitation and inventory of species. Molecular data have great potential to elucidate the relationships between taxa and, together with recent methodological advances, have instigated a resurgence of interest in phylogeny reconstruction. A literature survey indicates a decline in interest and investment in taxonomy, as defined above, an activity for which morphological data supply most information. We highlight the need to restore the balance in activity and profile between phylogeny reconstruction and morphology-based taxonomy, to redress the plight of systematics and dependent biological research.