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Scientists have identify and named over a million animal species , and there are millions more yet to be let on across Earth ’s seven continents . But which continent has the most beast mintage ?
For hundreds of years , scientists have been catalogue and geolocating species across the globe . Prior to the digital geezerhood , most of our information about species distribution came from museum collections , saidVítor Piacentini , an bird watcher at the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Brazil . now , the populace also contribute to this endeavor .
A guanaco looks out at a vista in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.
In the past 20 old age , there has been a " revolution " in citizen scientific discipline , Piacentini told Live Science , and " scientist are using their data to fill the col . "
Using this data , scientists can map the distribution of species worldwide . In the former 1980s , scientist Norman Myers coined the full term " biodiversity hot spot " to bear on to places with an exceptionally high bit of species for their surface area . Of the now36 hotspotsworldwide , most are in continents that cross the equator , where the climate is warm and humid .
The reason for this has to do not just with animate being but also with plant . " plant are the innovation of species,“Barnabas Daru , an applied ecologist at Stanford University , told Live Science . " If a place has a higher multifariousness of plants , it makes it easier for other organisms that calculate on those plants to become more abundant . "
A guanaco looks out at a vista in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.
touch : Which group of animals has the most species ?
Although plants can live in all sorts of condition , most boom in ardent , humid places . The humidity and warmth work together to provide essential moisture : Warm air traps pee molecules to create humidity . Warmth is also well for many microorganisms , peculiarly the decomposers , which break down dead material that the plants harvest for nutrients .
On top of all this , insects , which pollenate many unfolding plants , are better suited for warm clime because they ca n’t regulate their own consistence temperature . have more insects in the Torrid Zone mean more pollenation for plants and more food for thirsty piranha , Daru say .
A squirrel monkey sits in the tree canopy of the Amazon rainforest. These animals are found only in Central and South America.
But Piancentini observe that other divisor are also at fun . To domiciliate a plenty of species , a continent must tender not only tropical conditions but also a variety of habitat . Places with gamy biodiversity have many likely niches for brute to occupy , Piacentini said . For example , magniloquent trees or high mountains produce perpendicular variant in temperature , sunshine exposure and terrain that permit more critters to coexist without competing for the same resources or habitat .
— Which animal species has live the long ?
— How long do new species take to evolve ?
— What is the most genetically diverse species ?
free-base on these factors and appraisal using museum and citizen science data , most scientists harmonize that South America has the highest routine of animal species . From the Amazon rain forest , which has four tree tale layers for animate being to occupy , to the Andes mountains with scads of unlike microclimates , South America has the gain blend of heat and geographics . " Everything ’s combined there , " Piancentini order , " and that ’s why it has the biodiversity [ that it does ] . "
That said , South America ’s biodiversity may not always be as vibrant as it is now . Withdeforestation , mercury minelaying andclimate change , South America ’s animate being are facing more threat than ever before . There ’s still an opportunity to palliate the damage , however .
" We will certainly recede a lot of coinage , " Piacentini say , " but every effort that we make to reduce our impact will carry through us a lot as well . "
