Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Biodiversity research requires more boots on the ground

Our incomplete taxonomic knowledge impedes our attempts to protect biodiversity. A renaissance in the classification of species and their interactions is needed to guide conservation prioritization.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Two of the 15,214 species of ant named globally by mid-2017.

both photographs, Christian Rabeling/Harvard University.

References

  1. Mora, C., Tittensor, D. P., Adl, S., Simpson, A. G. B. & Worm, B. PLOS Biol. 9, e1001127 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wilson, E. O. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mahé, F. et al. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 1, 0091 (2017).

  4. Tranter, M. Nature 512, 256–257 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Dinerstein, E. et al. BioScience 67, 534–545 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Lamkin, M. & Miller, A. J. BioScience 66, 785–789 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Burkhead, N. M. BioScience 62, 793–808 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Wilson, E. O. Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life (Liveright, New York, 2016).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Pennisi, E. Science 355, 894–895 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward O. Wilson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wilson, E.O. Biodiversity research requires more boots on the ground. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1590–1591 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0360-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0360-y

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing