We are experiencing a golden age of species discovery

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Three centuries ago, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus set out to catalog and name all the living organisms he could find at the time. He is now considered the founder of modern taxonomy, having introduced the binomial naming system and described over ten thousand species of plants and animals. Scientists continue his mission to this day, expanding humanity's understanding of Earth's biodiversity.

A new study from the University of Arizona shows that the pace of discovery is accelerating, currently reaching 16,000 per year, the highest rate ever recorded. The study also confirms that groups such as plants, fungi, fish, amphibians and arachnids are much more diverse than previously thought.

A team of scientists examined taxonomic records of approximately two million species across all major life forms. They found that between 2015 and 2020, an average of sixteen thousand species were documented to have disappeared each year. This includes ten thousand animals, 2,500 plants and two thousand fungi. The great news is that the rate of discovery of new species far exceeds the rate of species extinction. To put that into perspective, around ten species go extinct each year.

Scientists' projections suggest that there could be as many as 115,000 species of fish and 41,000 species of amphibians. Currently, only 42,000 species of fish and only nine thousand amphibians have been described. The total number of plants could exceed half a million.

We currently know about 2.5 million species, but the real number could be in the tens to hundreds of millions. The team of scientists believes that the rate of discovery will continue to increase. So far, only 1.1 million insect species have been identified, but the real number could be as high as twenty million.

Discovering new species is very important because these species cannot be protected until they are scientifically described. Therefore, documentation is the first step towards nature conservation. New discoveries also play a role in improving human health and technology.

In the future, scientists plan to map the most common places where new species appear, so they can identify areas rich in previously undiscovered life. The search for new species began three hundred years ago, but 15 percent of all known species have been discovered in the last twenty years. The biodiversity of planet Earth is incredible, and many species remain unknown.

Source: ScienceDaily, Editorial Weathersunshine.com