Newly described species have higher extinction risk

According to a new study, newly discovered species are at a higher risk of extinction than their predecessors.

The researchers have found that recently described species face a higher risk of extinction than known species.

There have been lots of recent discussions about extinction rates, but there are a lot of un described species out there.

The descriptions and discoveries of new species show that they are the ones most at risk of extinction.

This suggests that there will be a lot of lost before it is described.

The researchers analyzed 53,808 species across five groups.

The proportion of threatened species is 11.9% for species described between 1758 and 1767.

This has gone up to 30% for some species. The analysis predicts that this could increase to 47.1% by the year 2050.

One of the reasons newly described species are at a higher risk of extinction is that they often have smaller population numbers and restricted ranges.

As these newly described species are often rare, there is also a strong black market in illegal wildlife trade, leaving these species at a high risk of poachers.

Despite the increased risks, many species receive less help in their efforts to conserve.

The current efforts are focused on species that were discovered a long time ago.

Because of good interventions, some high-profile species like the Giant Panda have started to recover, however, newly described species are often not granted the same treatment.

To help undiscovered species remain viable, intensive surveys are needed.

This relates to tropical areas and other areas where a number of threatened species have been discovered and undiscovered.

In Australia, it is important to conserve biodiversity as the majority of species in our flora and fauna do not occur elsewhere.

More field surveys are required to discover these species, followed by additional efforts to aid their battles against extinction.

The research has been published.

More information: Jiajia Liu et al, Undescribed species have higher extinction risk than known species, Conservation Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1111/conl.12876 Journal information: Conservation Letters Citation: Newly described species have higher extinction risk (2022, March 10) retrieved 10 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-newly-species-higher-extinction.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.