Global Biodiversity

[SysBio]

Hi everyone,

 

I was thinking about the following general questions about life on Earth:

 

1. How many species are there on the planet?

2. How many organisms are there on the planet?

3. How are these species/total organisms distributed among the different animal kingdoms (ie. what is life most commonly in the form of?)

 

I'll look around the internet over the next couple of days and post what I find. If anyone already has a good idea about these questions then please let us know.

 

Thanks!!!

 

(Also, I'm new here...I looked at a couple of the other science forums around and this one just seemed like the best....but I would like to hear from more experienced members.....how does this forum compare to others?)

[Psycho]

Hi everyone,

 

I was thinking about the following general questions about life on Earth:

 

1. How many species are there on the planet?

2. How many organisms are there on the planet?

3. How are these species/total organisms distributed among the different animal kingdoms (ie. what is life most commonly in the form of?)

 

I'll look around the internet over the next couple of days and post what I find. If anyone already has a good idea about these questions then please let us know.

 

Thanks!!!

 

(Also, I'm new here...I looked at a couple of the other science forums around and this one just seemed like the best....but I would like to hear from more experienced members.....how does this forum compare to others?)

 

1 and 2 Unknown.

 

Someone must have the number of known species, but that is far from the actual amount.

 

3. Bacteria, however that is such a vast category of organisms it is rather a useless statement.

[SysBio]

Thanks for the answer Psycho

 

Yeah, there is a lot of uncertainity regarding the global species count (anywhere from 2 to 100 million) but probably in the 10's of millions

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030526103731.htm

 

Interestingly, most organisms are below surface level.

 

As for the DISTRIBUTION of life.....can anyone give more details? To be clear, I am interested in terms of total biomass. I would guess that over 90% of biomass on earth, exists as prokaryotes...

[copperstream]

Yeah it's a nice question in deed. Many are unaware of many species especialy the micro organisms.Of course It's difficult to answer the question