How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?

The diversity of life is one of the most striking aspects of our planet; hence knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science. Yet the answer to this question remains enigmatic, as efforts to sample the world's biodiversity to date have been limited an...

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Autores principales:	Camilo Mora, Derek P Tittensor, Sina Adl, Alastair G B Simpson, Boris Worm
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/edb20605f04749bd9e9aff971895057d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:edb20605f04749bd9e9aff971895057d2021-11-18T05:36:03ZHow many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?1544-91731545-788510.1371/journal.pbio.1001127https://doaj.org/article/edb20605f04749bd9e9aff971895057d2011-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/21886479/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1544-9173https://doaj.org/toc/1545-7885The diversity of life is one of the most striking aspects of our planet; hence knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science. Yet the answer to this question remains enigmatic, as efforts to sample the world's biodiversity to date have been limited and thus have precluded direct quantification of global species richness, and because indirect estimates rely on assumptions that have proven highly controversial. Here we show that the higher taxonomic classification of species (i.e., the assignment of species to phylum, class, order, family, and genus) follows a consistent and predictable pattern from which the total number of species in a taxonomic group can be estimated. This approach was validated against well-known taxa, and when applied to all domains of life, it predicts ~8.7 million (± 1.3 million SE) eukaryotic species globally, of which ~2.2 million (± 0.18 million SE) are marine. In spite of 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued in a central database, our results suggest that some 86% of existing species on Earth and 91% of species in the ocean still await description. Renewed interest in further exploration and taxonomy is required if this significant gap in our knowledge of life on Earth is to be closed.Camilo MoraDerek P TittensorSina AdlAlastair G B SimpsonBoris WormPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleBiology (General)QH301-705.5ENPLoS Biology, Vol 9, Iss 8, p e1001127 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Camilo Mora Derek P Tittensor Sina Adl Alastair G B Simpson Boris Worm How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?
description	The diversity of life is one of the most striking aspects of our planet; hence knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science. Yet the answer to this question remains enigmatic, as efforts to sample the world's biodiversity to date have been limited and thus have precluded direct quantification of global species richness, and because indirect estimates rely on assumptions that have proven highly controversial. Here we show that the higher taxonomic classification of species (i.e., the assignment of species to phylum, class, order, family, and genus) follows a consistent and predictable pattern from which the total number of species in a taxonomic group can be estimated. This approach was validated against well-known taxa, and when applied to all domains of life, it predicts ~8.7 million (± 1.3 million SE) eukaryotic species globally, of which ~2.2 million (± 0.18 million SE) are marine. In spite of 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued in a central database, our results suggest that some 86% of existing species on Earth and 91% of species in the ocean still await description. Renewed interest in further exploration and taxonomy is required if this significant gap in our knowledge of life on Earth is to be closed.
format	article
author	Camilo Mora Derek P Tittensor Sina Adl Alastair G B Simpson Boris Worm
author_facet	Camilo Mora Derek P Tittensor Sina Adl Alastair G B Simpson Boris Worm
author_sort	Camilo Mora
title	How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?
title_short	How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?
title_full	How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?
title_fullStr	How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?
title_full_unstemmed	How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?
title_sort	how many species are there on earth and in the ocean?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/edb20605f04749bd9e9aff971895057d
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How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?

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