The ability to communicate and cooperate over long distances appears to be the most important feature of the Internet for research. For example, email represents one of the most widely known and used communication tools.

Using current web technologies, several applications have evolved, providing facilities which alleviate the organisation and coordination of cooperating work groups. In particular, the new emergent techniques are often subsumed within the term "Web 2.0". These offer fascinating visions of individually focused information flows for producers and consumers, allowing a new experience as applications are aggregated into personal "Web Desktops".

The aim of this presentation is to give an overview of currently available communication tools outlining those of potential interest for applications within a biodiversity context.

The presented communication tools result from an evaluation effort for the European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT; http://www.e-taxonomy.eu) to prepare a Web-based platform supporting communication and cooperation processes adapted to taxonomists' needs. The evaluation results may be of value to other biodiversity disciplines and the presented tools may inspire work groups to integrate them into their environment.