Nature & Environment

Scientists create map of undiscovered life

By T.K. Randall
March 23, 2021

Image: Japanese Macaque
Credit: Alfonsopazphoto / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) Creating a map showing the locations of every single species of animal on Earth might seem challenging enough, but imagine trying to map out the locations of species that haven't been discovered yet - creatures that have so far managed to go completely undetected by science.

Ten years on from revealing the 'Map of Life' database, researchers at Yale have now attempted exactly this by producing a database of places where we are most likely to find new species.

"At the current pace of global environmental change, there is no doubt that many species will go extinct before we have ever learned about their existence and had the chance to consider their fate," said Walter Jetz - a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

"I feel such ignorance is inexcusable, and we owe it to future generations to rapidly close these knowledge gaps."Published on March 22nd, the new map can be viewed - here.

A drop-down box at the top right allows you to filter the undiscovered species by class.

"Known species are the 'working units' in many conservation approaches, thus unknown species are usually left out of conservation planning, management, and decision-making," said lead author Prof Mario Moura from the Federal University of Paraiba.

"Finding the missing pieces of the Earth's biodiversity puzzle is therefore crucial to improve biodiversity conservation worldwide."

Source: Phys.org

Tags: Life, Species