How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?

TLDR

The diversity of life is striking, yet the exact number of species on Earth remains unknown because sampling is limited and indirect estimates are controversial. Here we show that the higher taxonomic classification of species follows a consistent pattern that allows estimation of total species numbers. We use the predictable pattern of assigning species to phylum, class, order, family, and genus to estimate total species in a taxonomic group. The method predicts ~8.7 million eukaryotic species globally, ~2.2 million marine, implying 86 % of Earth species and 91 % of ocean species remain undescribed.

Abstract

The diversity of life is one of the most striking aspects of our planet; hence knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science. Yet the answer to this question remains enigmatic, as efforts to sample the world's biodiversity to date have been limited and thus have precluded direct quantification of global species richness, and because indirect estimates rely on assumptions that have proven highly controversial. Here we show that the higher taxonomic classification of species (i.e., the assignment of species to phylum, class, order, family, and genus) follows a consistent and predictable pattern from which the total number of species in a taxonomic group can be estimated. This approach was validated against well-known taxa, and when applied to all domains of life, it predicts ∼8.7 million (±1.3 million SE) eukaryotic species globally, of which ∼2.2 million (±0.18 million SE) are marine. In spite of 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued in a central database, our results suggest that some 86% of existing species on Earth and 91% of species in the ocean still await description. Renewed interest in further exploration and taxonomy is required if this significant gap in our knowledge of life on Earth is to be closed.