There are in all probability many extra earthworm species than these which were formally recognised
Andia / Alamy
Tens of hundreds of species of earthworms are more likely to be wriggling on this planet’s soil, but to be found by scientists – which is able to in all probability take greater than 100 years to do.
Earthworms play a vital function in recycling natural vitamins in ecosystems. Researchers concern that with out figuring out all these species, they might be misplaced earlier than we all know they exist.
Greater than 5700 species and subspecies of earthworms have already been described by scientists. However Thibaud Decaëns on the College of Montpellier in France puzzled if this might be an underestimate when he seen the variety of earthworms whereas he was working within the Amazon.
To be taught extra, Decaëns and his crew performed sampling surveys in French Guiana, usually flying by helicopter to distant areas of the Amazon rainforest and spending as much as two weeks accumulating each worm they may discover in 1-hectare plots.
“We have only recorded 55 described species in French Guiana,” says Decaëns. “Whereas there are probably at least 2000 species there.” The scientists did related sampling in France, which collectively instructed that the variety of earthworms is should higher than beforehand thought.
In one other a part of the experiment, they labored with a statistician to estimate the variety of earthworm species worldwide that haven’t but been found, based on present information and the speed at which new species are described.
“On a global scale, we estimate that at least 30,000 species of earthworm exist on the planet,” says Decaëns. Based mostly on the variety of worm taxonomists globally and the speed at which they classify specimens, it can take 120 years earlier than they’re all recognized, he says.
“It is harder to conserve a group of species, such as earthworms, if we don’t know the basics of how many species there may be and where those species are,” says crew member Helen Phillips on the College of Helsinki in Finland.
Keiron Brown on the Organic Recording Firm within the UK says the analysis highlights how little we learn about earthworms. “It is baffling how we’ve become so behind with understanding such an ecologically important group of animals.”
Subjects:
