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Comment
. 2021 Aug 12;19(8):e3001192.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001192. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Vast (but avoidable) underestimation of global biodiversity

John J Wiens  1
Affiliations
Comment

Vast (but avoidable) underestimation of global biodiversity

John J Wiens. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

The number of species on Earth is highly uncertain. A recent study has suggested that there are less than 2 million prokaryotic species on Earth; this Formal Comment suggests instead that there are more likely hundreds of millions or billions of species, and that the majority of these are bacteria associated with insects and other animals.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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References

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