Number of Living Species in Australia and the World
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Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World 2nd edition Arthur D. Chapman Australian Biodiversity Information Services australia’s nature Toowoomba, Australia there is more still to be discovered… Report for the Australian Biological Resources Study Canberra, Australia September 2009 CONTENTS Foreword 1 Insecta (insects) 23 Plants 43 Viruses 59 Arachnida Magnoliophyta (flowering plants) 43 Protoctista (mainly Introduction 2 (spiders, scorpions, etc) 26 Gymnosperms (Coniferophyta, Protozoa—others included Executive Summary 6 Pycnogonida (sea spiders) 28 Cycadophyta, Gnetophyta under fungi, algae, Myriapoda and Ginkgophyta) 45 Chromista, etc) 60 Detailed discussion by Group 12 (millipedes, centipedes) 29 Ferns and Allies 46 Chordates 13 Acknowledgements 63 Crustacea (crabs, lobsters, etc) 31 Bryophyta Mammalia (mammals) 13 Onychophora (velvet worms) 32 (mosses, liverworts, hornworts) 47 References 66 Aves (birds) 14 Hexapoda (proturans, springtails) 33 Plant Algae (including green Reptilia (reptiles) 15 Mollusca (molluscs, shellfish) 34 algae, red algae, glaucophytes) 49 Amphibia (frogs, etc) 16 Annelida (segmented worms) 35 Fungi 51 Pisces (fishes including Nematoda Fungi (excluding taxa Chondrichthyes and (nematodes, roundworms) 36 treated under Chromista Osteichthyes) 17 and Protoctista) 51 Acanthocephala Agnatha (hagfish, (thorny-headed worms) 37 Lichen-forming fungi 53 lampreys, slime eels) 18 Platyhelminthes (flat worms) 38 Others 54 Cephalochordata (lancelets) 19 Cnidaria (jellyfish, Prokaryota (Bacteria Tunicata or Urochordata sea anenomes, corals) 39 [Monera] of previous report) 54 (sea squirts, doliolids, salps) 20 Porifera (sponges) 40 Cyanophyta (Cyanobacteria) 55 Invertebrates 21 Other Invertebrates 41 Chromista (including some Hemichordata (hemichordates) 21 species previously included Echinodermata (starfish, under either algae or fungi) 56 sea cucumbers, etc) 22 FOREWORD In Australia and around the world, biodiversity is under huge Harnessing core science and knowledge bases, like and growing pressure. The pressures are pervasive and this report, will be key to creating new ways of meeting chronic in many places — invasive species, habitat loss and Australia’s biodiversity challenges. Importantly, they provide climate change in particular. a benchmark for assessing and monitoring the future effects of climate change on Australia’s biodiversity. But there’s also good news. Every day we are making exciting new discoveries about the breadth and depth of As we move into the International Year of Biodiversity in Australia’s biodiversity. Since the first edition of the Numbers 2010, Australia has the opportunity to show global leadership of Living Species in Australia and the World was produced in biodiversity conservation. This report, the only one of its in 2006, we’ve discovered 48 reptiles, about 200 new fish kind in the world, is a positive start. species and 1,184 flowering plants. Understanding of the global significance of Australia’s biodiversity is also on the increase. This comprehensive review of the endemism of Australia’s plants and animals shows that a greater percentage of our plants and animals Robyn Kruk are found nowhere else in the world. Reptile endemism has Secretary jumped from 89 to 93 per cent, mammals from 83 to 87 and Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts frogs from 93 to 94. And close to 92 per cent of our vascular September 2009 plants, up from 90 per cent, are unique to Australia. It is vital that we forge new and innovative ways of conserving and protecting this unique biodiversity at a landscape level. INTRODUCTION | Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World Estimates of the total number of species in the world vary In taxonomic groups where individuals are generally large, from 5 million to over 50 million (May 1998). In this report charismatic, easily visible, of economic importance, of figures of close to 11 million species worldwide and about public interest, or subject to extensive taxonomic interest, 570,000 for Australia are accepted. Numbers for accepted such as mammals, birds, and some higher plant groups, published species in the world are given here as close to the total number of species is likely to be fairly close to 1,900,000 and 147,579 for Australia. the number of known or described species. On average, around 25 mammal species and five bird species have been The number of known species has been estimated by described each year over recent times (Hammond 1992), collating information from systematists, taxonomic literature, with many of these new species resulting from changes in online resources and previous compilations. Species taxonomic opinion and splitting, rather than being due to the numbers referred to as ‘described’ in this report, relate to discovery of new species (Groombridge and Jenkins 2002). names of native taxa that have been validly published and Recently, molecular systematics has led to an increase in are accepted, unless otherwise stated. Although many newly discovered species as genetic differences become scientific names are synonyms (thus there being more than more apparent. Estimates for the total number of species on one name applied to a species) the numbers of valid species earth vary from 3–5 million (Tangley 1997) to 50 million (May for well-reviewed and familiar groups can be calculated with 1998) and even to as many as 100 million (Tangley 1997). reasonable accuracy (Groombridge and Jenkins 2002). This report settles on a figure of about 11 million. Most recent calculations for the total number of known In contrast, for groups of organisms that contain individuals (i.e. described) species in the world suggest a figure of that are small, difficult to collect, obscure, or of little direct around 1.75 million (Hawksworth and Kalin-Arroyo 1995), public or economic interest, the total number of species is varying from about 1.5 million to 1.8 million (Tangley 1997). difficult to estimate and is likely to be much higher than the About 18,000 new species are being described each year number of known described individuals (Hammond 1992, (16,969 in 2006 and 18,516 in 2007—the last two years for Groombridge and Jenkins 2002). Many of these groups have which figures are available). About 75% of the new species very few or no systematists working on them, although often described in 2007 were invertebrates, 11% vascular plants there are undescribed species awaiting description in many and nearly 7% were vertebrates (Connor 2009). collections. Reliable estimates of the total number of species in many For the Prokaryota, Protoctista, Chromista and Viruses, Similarly, listing of threatened species in Australia is not of the less well known taxonomic groups are unlikely to be estimating the number of species (both known and total) is simple. As well as the lists of nationally threatened species made for many decades, although several new initiatives made difficult by uncertainties in definition of a ‘species’. maintained by the Australian Government (DEWHA are attempting to fill the gaps in knowledge. In 1998, the Generally, for these groups species are determined on the 2009a, 2009b) under the Environment Protection and Convention on Biological Diversity established the Global basis of features shown in culture (Woese 1998, Ward 2002), Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), each State Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) (ABRS 1998, CBD 2009a) with also maintains its own list. Species listed as threatened the mandate to improve taxonomic knowledge through and estimation of the total number of species in the world is increasing the number of taxonomists and trained curators. almost impossible. Indeed, according to Curtis et al. (2002) in one State may be common in another State. The list The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)1 is ‘The absolute diversity of prokaryotes is widely held to be maintained by the Australian Government (http://www. attempting to collate, through collaboration, existing attempts unknown and unknowable at any scale in any environment’. environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/index.html) to document the names of species of biodiversity through its is the only comprehensive list of ‘nationally’ threatened ECAT program (GBIF 2009a) and through the identification The listing of threatened species is also difficult. All lists species. Some States (e.g. Western Australia) also list and funding of nomenclatural and taxonomic gaps (GBIF lag well behind discovery and taxonomic revision, and thus species under categories additional to those recognised by 2009a). Other major projects that are looking at documenting are likely to provide under-estimates. On a world basis, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). names and taxa on a global basis are the Species 20002 very few countries list undescribed species, and this again Although these species may be of no less importance for project and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System leads to under-estimation. The only lists available that are (ITIS)3 which together produce the annual Catalogue of Life regional conservation, they are not listed here as it is difficult listing (Bisby et al. 2009). The International Plant Names regularly updated on a world basis are the IUCN Red Lists of to provide comparisons between the State lists and between Index (IPNI)4 documents the names of all vascular plant Threatened Species (IUCN 2004, 2009b) and even though the State lists and the National list. species, along with