Natural History Wanderings

ScienceDaily has an article discussing the Question “How Many species are there on Earth?” The Summary was:

About 8.7 million (give or take 1.3 million) is the new, estimated total number of species on Earth — the most precise calculation ever offered — with 6.5 million species on land and 2.2 million in oceans. Announced by the Census of Marine Life, the figure is based on a new analytical technique. The number of species on Earth had been estimated previously at 3 million to 100 million.

The findings included:

1.~7.77 million species of animals (of which 953,434 have been described and cataloged)

2.~298,000 species of plants (of which 215,644 have been described and cataloged)

3.~611,000 species of fungi (moulds, mushrooms) (of which 43,271 have been described and cataloged)

4.~36,400 species of protozoa (single-cell organisms with animal-like behavior, eg. movement, of which 8,118 have been described and cataloged)

5.~27,500 species of chromista (including, eg. brown algae, diatoms, water moulds, of which 13,033 have been described and cataloged)

Read the full story at:  How many species on Earth? About 8.7 million, new estimate says — ScienceDaily.