Dec.
6, 2012 — In 2012, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added
137 new relatives to our family tree, enriching our understanding of the
complex web of life on Earth and strengthening our ability to make informed
conservation decisions. The new species include 83 arthropods, 41 fishes, seven
plants, four sea slugs, one reptile, and one amphibian. They were described by
more than a dozen Academy scientists along with several dozen international
collaborators.
Proving
that there are still plenty of places to explore and things to discover on
Earth, the scientists made their finds over four continents and two oceans,
ventured into remote caves and descended to the bottom of the sea, looked in
their owns backyards (California) and on the other side of the world (China).
Their results, published in 29 different scientific papers, help advance the
Academy's research into two of the most important scientific questions of our
time: "How did life evolve?"and "How will it persist?"
"The
ongoing discovery of new species is an important function of systematics-based
institutions like the California Academy of Sciences," said Dr. Terry
Gosliner, Dean of Science and Research Collections at the Academy. "During
these times, when we are facing the planet's sixth mass extinction, species may
be disappearing before we have a chance to find and describe them. How can we
know what to protect, if we don't know that it exists in the first place?"
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