Fraction of the 1.9 million known recent species that are recorded as extinct

Value 0.04 % Range: (799 species) %
Organism Biosphere
Reference Régnier C et al., Mass extinction in poorly known taxa. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Jun 23 112(25):7761-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1502350112 abstractPubMed ID26056308
Method Abstract: "Here [investigators] show, based on extrapolation from a random sample of land snail species via two independent approaches, that we may already have lost 7% (130,000 extinctions) of the species on Earth."
Comments Abstract: "Since the 1980s, many have suggested we are in the midst of a massive extinction crisis, yet only 799 (0.04%) of the 1.9 million known recent species are recorded as extinct, questioning the reality of the crisis. This low figure is due to the fact that the status of very few invertebrates, which represent the bulk of biodiversity, have been evaluated."
Entered by Uri M
ID 117269