International Gaps in Biodiversity Knowledge

Source: 
http://news.ufl.edu/articles/2015/09/gaps-in-our-biodiversity-knowledge-arent-where-you-might-think.php
Release Date: 
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Contact: 
alissonc@ufl.edu

 

Understanding species distributions and having access to digital biodiversity information internationally is essential for scientists to have a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity.  An international team, including the University of Florida’s Robert Guralnick, Associate Curator of Biodiversity Informatics at the Florida Museum of Natural History, is bringing us closer to understanding and addressing information gaps.  Their findings have been published this month in the journal Nature Communications

“Millions of species distribution records for mammals, birds and amphibians around the world were evaluated. The team then evaluated how well the available data, much of it housed in natural history museums, represent global species distribution.”

Data revealed that the largest gaps were from large emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia.  Inventory completeness in relation to per capita did not seem to be a factor in gaps but more often that data is not being shared with the international science community.

Read the original press release.

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