• myGriffith
    • Staff portal
    • Contact Us⌄
      • Future student enquiries 1800 677 728
      • Current student enquiries 1800 154 055
      • International enquiries +61 7 3735 6425
      • General enquiries 07 3735 7111
      • Online enquiries
      • Staff phonebook
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Griffith Research Online
    • Journal articles
    • View Item
    • Home
    • Griffith Research Online
    • Journal articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

  • All of Griffith Research Online
    • Communities & Collections
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • This Collection
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • Statistics

  • Most Popular Items
  • Statistics by Country
  • Most Popular Authors
  • Support

  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Admin login

  • Login
  • Species Richness on Coral Reefs and the Pursuit of Convergent Global Estimates

    Author(s)
    Fisher, Rebecca
    O'Leary, Rebecca A
    Low-Choy, Samantha
    Mengersen, Kerrie
    Knowlton, Nancy
    Brainard, Russell E
    Caley, M Julian
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Low-Choy, Sama J.
    Year published
    2015
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Global species richness, whether estimated by taxon, habitat, or ecosystem, is a key biodiversity metric. Yet, despite the global importance of biodiversity and increasing threats to it (e.g., [1–4]), we are no better able to estimate global species richness now than we were six decades ago [5]. Estimates of global species richness remain highly uncertain and are often logically inconsistent [5]. They are also difficult to validate because estimation of global species richness requires extrapolation beyond the number of species known [6–13]. Given that somewhere between 3% and >96% of species on Earth may remain undiscovered ...
    View more >
    Global species richness, whether estimated by taxon, habitat, or ecosystem, is a key biodiversity metric. Yet, despite the global importance of biodiversity and increasing threats to it (e.g., [1–4]), we are no better able to estimate global species richness now than we were six decades ago [5]. Estimates of global species richness remain highly uncertain and are often logically inconsistent [5]. They are also difficult to validate because estimation of global species richness requires extrapolation beyond the number of species known [6–13]. Given that somewhere between 3% and >96% of species on Earth may remain undiscovered [4], depending on the methods used and the taxa considered, such extrapolations, especially from small percentages of known species, are likely to be highly uncertain [13, 14]. An alternative approach is to estimate all species, the known and unknown, directly. Using expert taxonomic knowledge of the species already described and named, those already discovered but not yet described and named, and those still awaiting discovery, we estimate there to be 830,000 (95% credible limits: 550,000–1,330,000) multi-cellular species on coral reefs worldwide, excluding fungi. Uncertainty surrounding this estimate and its components were often strongly skewed toward larger values, indicating that many more species on coral reefs is more plausible than many fewer. The uncertainties revealed here should guide future research toward achieving convergence in global species richness estimates for coral reefs and other ecosystems via adaptive learning protocols whereby such estimates can be tested and improved, and their uncertainties reduced, as new knowledge is acquired.
    View less >
    Journal Title
    Current Biology
    Volume
    25
    Issue
    4
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.12.022
    Subject
    Applied statistics
    Conservation and biodiversity
    Biological sciences
    Biomedical and clinical sciences
    Psychology
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/173060
    Collection
    • Journal articles

    Footer

    Disclaimer

    • Privacy policy
    • Copyright matters
    • CRICOS Provider - 00233E

    Tagline

    • Gold Coast
    • Logan
    • Brisbane - Queensland, Australia
    First Peoples of Australia
    • Aboriginal
    • Torres Strait Islander