Species list (online catalog) reaches half-million mark

[pmbryant]

From [e-mail]: March 15, 2005: http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050314/full/050314-6.html

Species list reaches half-million mark
Mark Peplow

Researchers claim 'spectacular progress' towards logging all Earth's life.

An online catalogue of all known life on Earth now has half a million species in its freely available database.

The Catalogue of Life Programme began in 2001 as a collaboration between Species 2000, a project based at the University of Reading, UK, and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System in Washington DC. The two groups each host part of the online directory.

Since then, many universities and natural history institutions have opened up their dusty card catalogues of species to contribute to the digital resource.

"The Catalogue of Life is just like the yellow pages for species," explains Paul Kirk, an expert in fungi at CABI Bioscience, a non-profit agriculture and biodiversity research organization, based at Egham, UK, that is one of the project's collaborators.

...

Biologists estimate that about 1.75 million species, from bacteria to blue whales, have already been identified on Earth. But there may be anywhere between 3 million and 12 million more yet to be discovered, says Kirk.

For each known species, the catalogue lists its different names, along with details of where it is found, the names of relevant experts, and links to other online resources.

...

More: http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050314/full/050314-6.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. And we'll be cutting that in half real soon now so they are easier

to keep track of.