Why worry about how many species and their loss?
- PMID: 21886482
- PMCID: PMC3160330
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001130
Why worry about how many species and their loss?
Abstract
We are astonishingly ignorant about how many species are alive on earth today, and even more ignorant about how many we can lose yet still maintain ecosystem services that humanity ultimately depends upon. Mora et al.'s paper is important in offering an imaginative new approach to assessing total species numbers, both on land and in the sea.
Conflict of interest statement
The author has declared that no competing interests exist.
Comment on
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How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean?PLoS Biol. 2011 Aug;9(8):e1001127. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127. Epub 2011 Aug 23. PLoS Biol. 2011. PMID: 21886479 Free PMC article.
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