globalbriefs
News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all.
Vanishing Species Counting our Natural Blessings
A study by Canada’s Dalhousie Universi- ty postulates that as many as 86 percent of Earth’s species are still unknown, and millions of organisms will remain undiscovered as extinctions acceler- ate worldwide at 10 to 100 times their natural rate.
If, as the study’s co-author Boris Worm suggests, our planet is home to 8.7 million species, it means scientists have cataloged fewer than 15 percent of spe- cies now alive. Many unknown organisms will wink out of existence before they can even be recorded.
Although the catalog of mammals and birds may be nearly complete, in-
ventories of other classes of life are far behind. Only 7 percent of the predicted number of fungi and fewer than 10 percent of all ocean life forms have been identified.
Categorizing a new organism is more complicated than discovering one. “It’s
a long process,” Worm explains. “Most scientists will describe dozens of species in their lifetime, if they’re really lucky. What’s been discovered so far are those things that are easy to find, that are conspicuous, that are relatively large. There is an age of discovery ahead of us when we could find out so much more of what lives with us on this planet.”
Source: National Geographic
Big Book Encyclopedia of Life Update
The second edition of the Smithsonian Institu- tion’s free, online collaborative Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is now easier to use. It also has been vastly expanded, offering information on more than one-third of all known species on Earth, including hundreds of thousands of images and videos. With the updated format, users can easily find species of interest; create personal collections of
photos and information; find or upload pictures, videos and sounds; and share comments, questions and expertise with users worldwide that share similar inter- ests.
EOL.org seeks to become a microscope in reverse, helping users to discern large-scale patterns. By aggregating for analysis information on Earth’s estimated 1.9 million known species, scientists say EOL could, for example, help map vectors of human disease; reveal mysteries behind longevity; suggest sub- stitute plant pollinators for a swelling list of places where honeybees no longer provide the function; and foster strategies to slow the spread of invasive species. All EOL information is available for reuse and is licensed under Creative Commons and other Open Access free licenses.
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