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. 2019 Jan 3;10(1):50.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07916-1.

Recognizing the quiet extinction of invertebrates

Nico Eisenhauer  1   2 , Aletta Bonn  3   4   5 , Carlos A Guerra  3   6
Affiliations

Recognizing the quiet extinction of invertebrates

Nico Eisenhauer et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Invertebrates are central to the functioning of ecosystems, yet they are underappreciated and understudied. Recent work has shown that they are suffering from rapid decline. Here we call for a greater focus on invertebrates and make recommendations for future investigation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Underrepresentation of invertebrates on IUCN Red List. Examples for percentages of species assessed on IUCN Red List by 2018 in comparison to the number of described species. Notably, there is high variability in the percentage of evaluated species within these broad categories. For instance, only ~0.8% of all described insect species was evaluated in 2018. Photo credits: panda: Eric Isselée; butterfly: Fotokon; tree: Production Perig; fungi: ksena32 (all Fotolia.de)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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