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- Appeltans, W., et al.
(författare)
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The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 22:23, s. 2189-2202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered. Results: There are similar to 226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (similar to 20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are similar to 170,000 synonyms, that 58,000-72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000-741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7-1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 +/- 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science. Conclusions: Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century.
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| 2. |
- Farooq, Harith, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Can we identify european snakes by color patterns?
- 2021
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Ingår i: Salamandra. - 0036-3375. ; 57:4, s. 520-528
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated to what extent European snakes can be identified by using their color, pattern and location. We coded these criteria for all 84 snake species of Europe, including European Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey as their eastern border. Brown and blotched snakes are most common, followed by dark (brown, black) and uniformly colored species. Some highly variable species can have a dozen or more color patterns. However, in 96% of localities (grid cells) these three criteria are sufficient to narrow down the number of possible species to no more than 10, and in most cases proper identification is possible with a few photos for comparison. Given that about two dozen European vipers (and a few other species) are venomous, accurately identifying snakes is also of medical importance. In addition to identifying snakes, we provide color and pattern data for future phylogenetic and for future phylogenetic and ecological studies. © 2021 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde.
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| 3. |
- Farooq, Harith, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Identifying Australian snakes by color patterns
- 2020
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Ingår i: Vertebrate Zoology. - 1864-5755. ; 70:3, s. 473-482
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated if Australian snakes can be identified by using their color, pattern, size and location. We coded these criteria for the 185 terrestrial snake species of Australia (excluding 37 species of sea snakes from our analysis). Uniformly brown snakes are most common, followed by banded and blotched species. Some highly variable species can have dozens of color patterns. For most localities these four criteria are sufficient to narrow down the number of possible species to fewer than 21 species and in most cases accurate identification is possible with a few photos for comparison. Given that most Australian snakes are venomous, accurately identifying snakes is also of medical importance. In addition to identifying snakes, colors and patterns provide useful data for phylogenetic and ecological studies. © 2020 Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft. All rights reserved.
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