Abstract
In the latter half of the twentieth century, biologists using knockdown insecticides discovered the previously unrecognised and enormous diversity of life, particularly of insects and arthropods, in the canopy of tropical and temperate forests (Erwin 1982; Stork 1988). Such discoveries led to the suggestion that the canopy is ‘the last biotic (or biological) frontier’ (Stork 1995). Some speculated that the Earth held 30 million or more arthropod species and that most of these were undescribed species in the canopy of tropical forests (Erwin 1982, 1988, 1991). These discoveries coincided with revelations that tropical forests were being harvested or cleared at alarming rates around the world and led to many leading biologists suggesting that this might lead to the extinction of a large proportion of tropical species. These issues were highlighted by Wilson and Peter (1988) and were also of critical importance in driving the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity by 193 countries (subsequently ratified by 168 countries) in 1992.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Basset Y et al (2012) Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest. Science 338:1481
Costello MJ, Wilson S, Houlding B (2012) Predicting total global species richness using rates of species description and estimates of taxonomic effort. Syst Biol 61:871
Costello MJ, May RM, Stork NE (2013) Can we name Earth’s species before they go extinct? Science 339:413
Erwin TL (1982) Tropical forests: their richness in Coleoptera and other arthropod species. Coleopts Bull 36:74
Erwin TL (1988) The tropical forest canopy: The heart of biotic diversity. In: Wilson EO, Peter FM (eds) Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp. 123–129
Erwin TL (1991) How many species are there?: Revisited. Conserv Biol 5:1
Hamilton AJ, Basset Y, Benke KK, Grimbacher PS, Miller SE, Novotny V et al (2010) Quantifying uncertainty in estimation of global arthropod species richness. Am Nat 176:90–95
Hamilton AJ, Basset Y, Benke KK, Grimbacher PS, Miller SE, Novotny V et al (2011) Correction. Am Nat 177:544–545
Hamilton AJ, Basset Y, Benke KK, Grimbacher PS, Miller SE, Novotny V, et al (2013) Estimating global species richness: refining probabilistic models using probability bounds analysis. Oecologia 171:591–600
Hammond PM (1990) Insect abundance and diversity in the Dumoga-Bone National Park, N. Sulawesi, with special reference to the beetle fauna of lowland rainforest in the Toraut region. In: Knight WJ, Holloway JD (eds) Insects and the rain forests of South East Asia (Wallacea). Royal Entomological Society, London, pp. 197–254
Hubbell SP et al (2008) How many tree species are there in the Amazon and how many of them will go extinct? Proc Natl Acad Sci 105:11498
May RM (1988) How many species are there on Earth? Science 241:1441
May RM (1990) How many species? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 330:293
May RM (1997) The dimensions of life on earth. In: Raven PH, Williams T (eds) Nature and human society: the quest for a sustainable world. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp. 30–45
Mora C, Tittensor DP, Adl S, Simpson AGB, Worm B (2011) How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean? Plos Biol 9
Robbins RK, Lamas G, Mielke OHH, Harvey DJ, Casagrande MM (1996) Taxonomic composition and ecological structure of the species-rich butterfly community at Pakitza. Parque Nacional del Manu, Peru
Stork NE (1988) Insect diversity: facts, fiction and speculation. Biol J Linn Soc 35:321
Stork NE (1993) How many species are there? Biodivers Conserv 2:215
Stork NE (1995) Last biological frontier. Sci NY 35:3
Stork NE (1997) Measuring global biodiversity and its decline. In: Reaka-Kudla ML, Wilson DE, Wilson EO (eds) Biodiversity II: understanding and protecting our biological resources. Joseph Henry, Washington, DC, pp. 41–68
Stork NE (1999) The magnitude of biodiversity and its decline. In: Cracraft J, Grifo FT (eds) The living planet in crisis: biodiversity science and policy. Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 3–32
Stork NE et al (2008) What determines whether a species of insect is described? Evidence from a study of tropical forest beetles. Insect Conserv Divers 1:114
Valencia R, Balslev A, Paz YMC (1994) High tree alpha diversity in Amazonian Ecuador. Biodivers Conserv 3:21–28
Wilson EO, Peter FM (eds) (1988) Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
Acknowledgements  
We thank Bill Laurance for his comments on an early draft of this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stork, N.E., Hamilton, A.J. (2013). Narrowing Global Species Estimates. In: Lowman, M., Devy, S., Ganesh, T. (eds) Treetops at Risk. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7161-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7161-5_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7160-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7161-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)