May 18, 2009 8:28 pm US/Eastern
'Encyclopedia of Life' Tracking Planet's Species
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Ever heard of
Homarus americanus?
It's the Latin name for a local favorite -- Maine lobster. It is just one of some 100,000 species featured in the
"Encyclopedia of Life" -- a one-stop Web site for all living things on our planet. "The Encyclopedia of Life, or EOL, is a very ambitious effort to create a Web site for every species of living organism," said Harvard zoologist Jim Hanken and Chair of the EOL Steering Committee. "The main purpose of EOL is to enhance understanding of biological diversity on Earth and to facilitate scientific discovery. Nothing of this scope has been attempted before."
We share the planet with some 1.8 million "named" species, but the majority of life on our planet is yet to be discovered. "Tens of thousands of new species are being named every year," said Hanken.
New plant species join the roster at a rate of about 2,000 a year and new frogs number several hundred a year. Hanken estimates that anywhere from five to 30 million new species are yet to be identified.
While there are many species we have yet to meet, there are many we know that are doing a vanishing act. "We are in the midst of another massive extinction event -- the 6th great extinction -- similar to the decline and demise of the dinosaur," said Hanken. "The difference this time is that we are causing it. It is undoubtedly mediated by human intervention whether it is global warming, habitat destruction, pesticides or pollution. The rate at which species are being lost now is many hundreds of times higher than background levels."
But EOL hopes to change that -- providing suggestions on how to conserve and save species. Curators hope to have much of the project done in the next decade, but of course, it is a "living" site -- growing with new discoveries and keeps tabs on storied favorites, while helping scientists accelerate our understanding of life on Earth.
If you would like to contribute images, you can post your pictures or video
here.
So far, 904 photographers from every corner of the globe have contributed almost 24,000 elements.
SOME STATS
- The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that global warming could result in the extinction of 30 percent of the world's species.
- Despite conservation efforts, nine more bird species have been added this year to the list of Critically Endangered birds the have a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- BirdLife International scientists found that 1,227 species, 12 percent of the world's birds, are classified as globally threatened with extinction to some degree.
- The Endangered Species Coalition is a national network of hundreds of conservation, scientific, education, religious, sporting, outdoor recreation, business and community organizations working to protect our nation's disappearing wildlife and last remaining wild places.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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