How Many Species Are Endangered?

And which species are they? And where are they located? And why are they endangered?

All are good questions.

Unfortunately it is a question to which there is no 'definitive' answer. Because having an answer to this question requires knowing how many species there are on Earth. We don't.

So how does one go about trying to understand, or get a sense, how many species on Earth are endangered (and the which, where and why that follows)?

Well there are estimates as to how many species are currently ‘known’, and at what rate new species are being ‘discovered.’

According to Dr. Tim Entwisle, Director, Conservation, Living Collections and Estates, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who is quoted on the IUCN website, “there are 380,000 species of plants named and described, with about 2,000 being added to the list every year.”

He doesn't say what 'percentage' this may be of the total number of plants on Earth.

However, with regards to how many of these plant species might be endangered species, Entwisle estimates ‘one in five’ of these 380,000 species are likely to be under threat of extinction. He also says that is before the impacts of climate change are factored in.

It’s not clear what studies Entwisle estimates come from (though I do plan to explore this) but if his estimates were correct, this would mean somewhere in the neighborhood of 76,000 of the ‘known’ species of plants were under the threat of extinction.

And these are just the plant species.

But that estimate would apply to only what is known. Entwilse also points to the issue of ‘what is not known’ by saying “for fungi and algae, we still have little sense of what is out there and what we are losing."

And that is worth repeating, “We still have little sense what is out there and what we are losing.”

And it seems, that is exactly what the IUCN is trying to determine; what is out there, and what are we losing.

It's hard to get a sense of the task.

Of the 61,900 species (both plant and animal) the IUCN has reviewed, one would assume these include some the 380,000 species of plants which have been named and described (with an additional 2,000 being added each year).

So does this mean the IUCN still has to review an additional 318,100 species of plants just to get an accurate sense of how many plant species are actually threatened with extinction?

And what about animal species?

How many animal species have been 'described'. And what percentage is this number of the possible total number of animal species on the Earth? And what percentage of these are considered threatened with extinction?

These are the questions that have to be answered to answer the question 'How Many Species Are Endangered'?

It is a complicated question and I am curious where the answer is.

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For more information about endangered species go to www.Bagheera.com
For more information about endangered tigers go to www.TigersinCrisis.com