The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity

• Published in: Current biology Vol. 22; no. 23; pp. 2189 - 2202
• Main Authors: Appeltans, Ward, Angel, Martin V., Bailly, Nicolas, Barber, Anthony, Bartsch, Ilse, Berta, Annalisa, Błażewicz-Paszkowycz, Magdalena, Bock, Phil, Boxshall, Geoff, Boyko, Christopher B., Brandão, Simone Nunes, Bray, Rod A., Bruce, Niel L., Cairns, Stephen D., Chan, Tin-Yam, Cheng, Lanna, Collins, Allen G., Cribb, Thomas, Curini-Galletti, Marco, Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid, De Clerck, Olivier, De Grave, Sammy, de Voogd, Nicole J., Domning, Daryl P., Emig, Christian C., Erséus, Christer, Eschmeyer, William, Fauchald, Kristian, Fautin, Daphne G., Feist, Stephen W., Fransen, Charles H.J.M., Garcia-Alvarez, Oscar, Gerken, Sarah, Gibson, David, Gittenberger, Arjan, Gofas, Serge, Gómez-Daglio, Liza, Guiry, Michael D., Hernandez, Francisco, Hoeksema, Bert W., Jaume, Damià, Koedam, Nico, Koenemann, Stefan, Kolb, Jürgen B., Kristensen, Reinhardt M., Kroh, Andreas, Lemaitre, Rafael, Longshaw, Matt, Lowry, Jim, Macpherson, Enrique, Mah, Christopher, McLaughlin, Patsy A., Mees, Jan, Messing, Charles G., Mills, Claudia E., Molodtsova, Tina N., Mooi, Rich, Neuhaus, Birger, Nielsen, Claus, Norenburg, Jon, Opresko, Dennis M., Osawa, Masayuki, Paulay, Gustav, Perrin, William, Pilger, John F., Poore, Gary C.B., Pugh, Phil, Read, Geoffrey B., Reimer, James D., Rius, Marc, Rocha, Rosana M., Saiz-Salinas, José I., Scarabino, Victor, Schierwater, Bernd, Schnabel, Kareen E., Schotte, Marilyn, Schuchert, Peter, Segers, Hendrik, Shenkar, Noa, Siegel, Volker, Sterrer, Wolfgang, Stöhr, Sabine, Swalla, Billie, Tasker, Mark L., Thuesen, Erik V., Timm, Tarmo, Todaro, M. Antonio, Turon, Xavier, Tyler, Seth, Uetz, Peter, van der Land, Jacob, Vanhoorne, Bart, van Ofwegen, Leen P., van Soest, Rob W.M., Vanaverbeke, Jan, Walker-Smith, Genefor, Walter, T. Chad, Williams, Gary C., Wilson, Simon P., Costello, Mark J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 04.12.2012
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Biodiversity; Biological Sciences; Biological Systematics; Biologisk systematik; Biologiska vetenskaper; Databases, Factual; Diversity of life; future; Livets mångfald; Models, Statistical; new species; Oceanografi, hydrologi, vattenresurser; Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources; oceans; rates; richness; species diversity; taxonomists; worms
• ISSN: 0960-9822; 1879-0445; 1879-0445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.036

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. There are ∼226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (∼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 ∼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. 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. ► ∼226,000 described eukaryotic marine species are accepted and ∼170,000 are not ► Experts and statistics predict that fewer than one million marine species exist ► 70,000 species may already be in specimen collections, waiting to be described ► Most of marine life may be discovered this century