The DOI matches its Crossref record; 103 of the 104 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Shortfalls and opportunities in terrestrial vertebrate species discovery
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Much of biodiversity remains undiscovered, causing species and their functions to remain unrealized and potentially lost in ignorance. Here we use extensive species-level data in a time-to-event model framework to identify taxonomic and geographic discovery gaps in terrestrial vertebrates. Biological, environmental and sociological factors all affect discovery probability and together provide strong predictive ability for species discovery. Our model identifies distinct taxonomic and geographic unevenness in future discovery potential, with greatest opportunities for amphibians and reptiles, and for Neotropical and Indo-Malayan forests. Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and Colombia emerge as holding greatest discovery opportunities, with a quarter of potential discoveries estimated. These findings highlight the importance of international policy support for basic taxonomic research and the potential of quantitative models to aid species discovery.
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“we acknowledge that research effort to document crocodylian species repertoires may be disproportionately concentrated in regions where species are less threatened, due to more readily available funding”
From Roars, Rumbles, and Resonance: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Crocodylian Acoustic Signals (2026) · cites this paper as Moura and Jetz 2021
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The global distribution of known and undiscovered ant biodiversity
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Antonelli, A., Smith, R. J., Perrigo, A., Crottini, A., Hackel, J., Testo, W., Farooq, H. M., Jiménez, M. F. T., Andela, N., Andermann, T., et al. (2022) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abf0869 · Cited by 161
Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research
Carvalho, R. L., de Resende, A. F., Barlow, J., França, F. M., Moura, M. R., Maciel, R., Alves‐Martins, F., Shutt, J. D., Nunes, C. A., Elias, F., et al. (2023) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.077 · Cited by 153
Self-citationUndescribed species have higher extinction risk than known species
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Metadata
- Authors
- Moura, M. R., & Jetz, W.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal da Paraíba (BR)
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Moura, Mario R.
- Jetz, Walter
- Venue
- Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Published
- 2021-03-22
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 631-639
- ISSN
- 2397-334X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3137801091
- Cited by
- 196
- References
- 104
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 7
- FWCI
- 11.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Ecology & Evolution (publishedVersion)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (NSF grant DEB-1441737)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC17K0282, 80NSSC18K0435)
- E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, Half-Earth Project
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Keywords
- species discovery, terrestrial vertebrates, biodiversity, amphibians, reptiles, survival models, discovery probability, Neotropical forests, taxonomic research, conservation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Vertebrates
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