Reacción a "Knowledge of biodiversity is advancing faster than species loss"

The diversity of life is the result of evolution. For example, the geographical isolation of a population belonging to a species can, over time, lead to the emergence of a new sister species. As a result of this process, it is possible to recognise different hierarchies of biological organisation in living beings. These hierarchies are nested within each other, since all organisms share, a priori, a common ancestor. Furthermore, the highest hierarchical levels correspond to lineages that originated in earlier moments of evolutionary history and that, in essence, represent successful biological solutions to certain environmental pressures. An illustrative example can be found in insects. Currently, around 30 orders are recognised, grouping approximately 1,000 families. These families, in turn, include about 130,000 genera, within which around 1.5 million described species are distributed.

In a recent study, John J. Wiens and colleagues estimated how many new taxonomic groups above the species level are described each year. Their results show that most new genera belong to the group that accounts for much of the Earth's diversity: arthropods, such as insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods. However, when higher hierarchical levels, such as families, orders or classes, are analysed, the situation changes: many of these new groupings belong to microscopic organisms, bacteria and fungi, often associated with marine environments or living as guests of other organisms. It has long been suggested that the number of currently described species of bacteria and fungi, which barely reaches 180,000, could represent only about 1% of the actual total, or even a smaller fraction. When discussing the diversity of life, therefore, it is essential to talk about microorganisms. These tiny life forms, the oldest in the planet's evolutionary history, have an enormous capacity for evolution, colonise and permeate virtually all environments, and play a fundamental role as engineers in all of Earth's biogeochemical cycles. It is therefore not surprising that many of the new supra-specific taxonomic entities are being discovered precisely among bacteria and fungi.

If each organism can be understood as a unique and effective solution for life in the face of a specific set of environmental conditions, the main conclusion of this study is that the number of large biological solutions still unknown could be enormous. There is therefore a risk of losing part of this diversity before it has even been discovered, as a result of our growing and profound intervention in nature. Hence the importance of promoting comprehensive and standardised biological inventory efforts, accompanied by effective conservation policies.