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This story isn't purely cryptozoological, but it strikes me as having a potential relevance to crypto- as well as mainstream zoology. If nothing else, the points made about the low proportion of all species currently known (perhaps only 13 - 18%) should be heartening for those seeking cryptids.
It struck me that the factors these researchers employed to estimate where undiscovered terrestrial vertebrate species are most likely to be found may well be as relevant to cryptids as to recognized taxonomic groups.
FULL STORY:
https://www.sciencealert.com/new-ma...h-where-undiscovered-creatures-may-be-lurking
PUBLISHED REPORT: (Abstract Alone Is Publicly Accessible):
Moura, M.R., Jetz, W.
Shortfalls and opportunities in terrestrial vertebrate species discovery.
Nat Ecol Evol (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01411-5
SOURCE: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01411-5
INTERACTIVE MAP: https://mol.org/patterns/discovery
It struck me that the factors these researchers employed to estimate where undiscovered terrestrial vertebrate species are most likely to be found may well be as relevant to cryptids as to recognized taxonomic groups.
New 'Map of Life' Reveals Where Unknown Animals May Still Live on Earth
Maps usually exist for the purpose of charting landscapes of the known. In times of crisis, though, maps of the unknown may be just as vital a resource.
That's the thinking behind a new scientific effort to map all the places on Earth where undiscovered species are most likely to be living today.
Against the backdrop of the world's biodiversity crisis – in which we're losing known and presumably unknown species at an alarming rate – such speculative cartography may prove our best and only chance to document, classify, and possibly save animals before they are permanently surrendered to extinction, scientists warn.
"Conservative estimates suggest only 13 to 18 percent of all living species may be known at this point, although this number could be as low as 1.5 percent," researchers from Yale University explain in a new study.
"Without inclusion in conservation decision-making and international commitments, these [undiscovered] species and their functions may be forever lost in ignorance." ...
To address this 'biodiversity shortfall', ecologists Mario Moura and Walter Jetz created a model extrapolating where unknown species of terrestrial vertebrates might likely exist today, based on biological, environmental, and sociological factors associated with the over 32,000 terrestrial vertebrates already known to biologists. ...
FULL STORY:
https://www.sciencealert.com/new-ma...h-where-undiscovered-creatures-may-be-lurking
PUBLISHED REPORT: (Abstract Alone Is Publicly Accessible):
Moura, M.R., Jetz, W.
Shortfalls and opportunities in terrestrial vertebrate species discovery.
Nat Ecol Evol (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01411-5
SOURCE: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01411-5
INTERACTIVE MAP: https://mol.org/patterns/discovery