Mankind is the dominant species on Earth. We have won the evolutionary race to the top, and because of this, we have certain responsibilities. One of these responsibilities includes finding every living species on Earth, identify them, categorise them, and let them know how great we are. The thing is, the Earth is a big place, a lot of theses creature are very small, and biologist doesn’t know where to look a lot of the time.
This article interviews Dr Worm and Dr.Mora who give their educated estimate of about 8.7 million, give or take. They explain that most big land animals have been accounted for, but counting or estimating what has not been found yet is the part scientist through history and a modern day has trouble determining. Worm and Mora have decided to use a method that involves placing categories of life on a taxonomic pyramid and noting the blanks to estimate what has not been accounted for yet.
While Worm and Mora’s method may be controversial, many scientists simply ignore parts of the world. According to this article, a major problem for taxonomy is that it focus on more developed parts of the word, and on what can be seen. The southern hemisphere is under classified despite its diversity of life. That said, a large part of that life includes insects and microbes, which can be hard to analyse without harming the environment around it.
A question that can be asked about estimating the number of species is if this is science admitting ignorance or preference. It is true that exploring the southern regions is dangerous, but at the same time, these zones are described as “hotspots” and are not as tampered with as the biomes in the developed regions. What I am suggesting is that since the existence of under-researched data is known, is making these kinds of estimates valid when knowing the data you have is biased towards the qualities of one section of the globe? Possibly, and just because accessing the southern hemisphere is problematic, it doesn’t mean researchers should stop.
Image
http://www.freakingnews.com/Pictures/5/Insect-Animals.jpg
It’s definitely been mankind’s for the longest to explore the unknown. We love learning what we don’t know. However, having hinderances like the possibility of damaging the environment is like telling a kid in a candy store that they can’t get anything. My question is of all of the parts of the earth we haven’t even touched yet. The world is 70% covered be oceans and the National Ocean Service Reports that 95% of that is unseen to the human eye. There could be tons of organisms unknown to man right there unscathed.
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html