Planet Earth is home to 8.7 million species, scientists estimate

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent | Tuesday August 23 2011 22.00 BST

Humans share the planet with as many as 8.7 million different forms of life, according to what is being billed as the most accurate estimate yet of life on Earth.

=snip=

The study, which is published in the journal PLoS Biology, underlines just how little humans know about what is out there – and which plants and animals will become extinct before scientists can even record their existence.

"Scientists have been working on this question of how many species for so many years," said Dr Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The quest was growing increasingly urgent. "We know we are losing species because of human activity, but we can't really appreciate the magnitude of species lost until we know what species are there," he said

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/23/species-earth-estimate-scientists

[demosincebirth]

1. Teabaggers in there?

[Rincewind]

2. Probably right

below slime mold.

[provis99]

3. noticeably they did not count bacteria or viruses.

I would expect microscopic lifeforms make up the majority of species, not insects.

[daleo]

4. They say every scoop of earth

Will yield a new species of bacteria.