Abstract
Southeast Asia has the highest rate of deforestation among all tropical regions in the world. Depending on the number of undiscovered species not yet known to science, a sizeable proportion of species may have gone extinct or will go extinct in the future without record. We compiled species datasets for eight taxa, each consisting of a list of native species and their description dates. Birds, legumes, mosquitoes, and mosses showed recent declines in species discovery rate. For these taxa, we estimated the total species richness by applying generalized linear models derived from theory. The number of undiscovered species in each taxon was calculated and the extent of undiscovered species among the taxa compared. Among these taxa that displayed a species discovery decline, the legumes had the highest extent of undiscovered species while the birds had the most complete species inventory. Although quantitative estimates of the number of undiscovered species for amphibians, freshwater fish, hawkmoths, and mammals could not be derived, the extent of undiscovered species is likely to be high as their recent discovery rates showed a continued increase. If these taxa are more or less representative of other Southeast Asian taxa, many species are likely to go extinct before ever being discovered by science under the current rates of habitat loss. We therefore urge the intensification of taxonomic and species discovery research in the taxa in which the extent of undiscovered species is relatively high, i.e., amphibians, freshwater fish, hawkmoths, mammals, and legumes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baselga A, Novoa F (2006) Diversity of Chrysomelidae (Coleoptera) in Galicia, Northwest Spain: estimating the completeness of the region inventory. Biodivers Conserv 15:205–230
Bebber DP, Marriott FHC, Gaston KJ, Harris SA, Scotland RW (2007) Predicting unknown species numbers using discovery curves. Proc R Soc B 274:1651–1658
Beck J, Kitching IJ (2008) The Sphingidae of Southeast-Asia. http://www.sphin-sea.unibas.ch. Cited March 2009
BirdLife International (2008) BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world (version 1). http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html. Cited 23 Feb 2009
Bolker BM (2008) Ecological models and data in R. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Bradshaw CJA, Sodhi NS, Brook BW (2009) Tropical turmoil—a biodiversity tragedy in progress. Front Ecol Environ 7:79–87
Brooks TM (2002) Habitat loss and extinction in the hotspots of biodiversity. Conserv Biol 16:909–923
Cabrero-Sañudo FJ, Lobo JM (2003) Estimating the number of species not yet described and their characteristics: the case of Western Palaeartic dung beetle species (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea). Biodivers Conserv 12:147–166
Ceballos G, Ehrlich PR (2009) Discoveries of new mammal species and their implications for conservation and ecosystem services. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:3841–3846
Colwell RK, Coddington JA (1994) Estimating terrestrial biodiversity through extrapolation. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 345:101–118
Davison AC, Hinkley DV (1997) Bootstrap methods and their application. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Foottit RG, Adler PH (2009) Insect biodiversity: science and society. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford
Gaston KJ, Spicer JI (2004) Biodiversity: an introduction, 2nd edn. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford
Godfray HCJ (2002) Challenges for taxonomy. Nature 417:17–19
Grimaldi DA, Engel MS (2005) Evolution of the insects. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Jeffries MJ (2006) Biodiversity and conservation. Routledge, New York
Koh LP, Butler RA, Bradshaw CJA (2009) Conversion of Indonesia’s peatlands. Front Ecol Environ 7:238
Kozlowski G (2008) Is the global conservation status assessment of a threatened taxon a utopia? Biodivers Conserv 17:445–448
Medellín RA, Soberón J (1999) Prediction of mammal diversity on four land masses. Conserv Biol 13:143–149
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: biodiversity synthesis. Island Press
Missouri Botanical Garden (2009) TROPICOS. http://www.tropicos.org. Cited Mar–Aug 2009
Mittermeier RA, Robles Gil R, Hoffman M, Pilgrim J, Brooks T, Mittermeier CG, Lamoreux J, da Fonseca GAB (2004) Hotspots revisited: earth’s biologically richest and most threatened terrestrial ecoregions. CEMEX, Mexico
Myers N, Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG, da Fonseca GAB, Kent J (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858
R Development Core Team. (2008) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Sala OE (2000) Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science 287:1770–1774
Sodhi NS, Koh LP, Brook BW, Ng PKL (2004) Southeast Asian biodiversity: an impending disaster. Trends Ecol Evol 19:654–660
Sodhi NS, Posa MRC, Lee TM, Bickford D, Koh LP, Brook BW (2009) The state and conservation of Southeast Asian biodiversity. Biodivers Conserv. doi:10.1007/s10531-009-9607-5
Stork NE (1993) How many species are there? Biodivers Conserv 2:215–232
Taylor D (2010) Biomass burning, humans and climate change in Southeast Asia. Biodivers Conserv. doi:10.1007/s10531-009-9756-6
Wilcove DS, Koh LP (2010) Addressing the threats to biodiversity from oil palm agriculture. Biodivers Conserv. doi:10.1007/s10531-009-9760-x
Woolhouse MEJ, Howey R, Gaunt E, Reilly L, Chase-Topping M, Savill N (2008) Temporal trends in the discovery of human viruses. Proc R Soc B 275:2111–2115
Acknowledgements
We thank Navjot S. Sodhi and Lian Pin Koh for inviting us to submit an article for this special feature, and for helpful discussions, comments and ideas. We also thank the two anonymous referees whose insightful comments enabled us to improve this manuscript. We also acknowledge the contribution of Alvin F.S.L. Lok in providing advice on data availability and helpful comments. X.G. designed research, X.G. & T.H.N. performed research. X.G. & V.B.Y. analyzed data. X.G. led the writing of the paper, T.H.N., H.T.T.W. & V.B.Y. contributed to the writing of the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix 1: List of literature consulted to compile our mosses dataset
Appendix 1: List of literature consulted to compile our mosses dataset
-
Akiyama H. 1990. Taxonomic studies of mosses of Seram and Ambon (Moluccas, East Indonesia) collected by Indonesian-Japanese Botanical Expeditions II. J Fac Sci Univ Tokyo, Sect 3 Bot. 14: 385–413.
-
Akiyama H. 1996. Taxonomic studies of mosses of Seram and Ambon (Moluccas, East Malesia) collected by Indonesian-Japanese Botanical Expedition, IX. Pottiaceae. Trop Bryol 12: 157–168.
-
Akiyama H. 1999. Additional notes on the genus Chaetomitrium Dozy & Molk. (Hookeriaceae, Musci) reported from Seram Island (Moluccas, East Malesia). Bryol Res 7: 257–260.
-
Akiyama H., Tsubota H., Yamaguchi T., Suleiman M. 2003. The new genus Benitotania (Daltoniaceae, Bryopsida) from Mt. Kinabalu. Bryologist 106: 454–459.
-
Akiyama, H. & A. Tanaka 2002. Hypnodontopsis spathulata H. Akiyama & A. Tanaka (Rhachitheciaceae; Musci), a new species from Myanmar (Burma). Bryol Res 8: 131–136.
-
Buck W.R. 1979. A revision of the moss genus Trachyphyllum Gepp (Thuidiaceae). Brittonia 31: 379–394.
-
Ellis L. 2007. A revision of the moss Syrrhopodon spiculosus Hook. & Grev. (Calymperaceae, Bryopsida) and associated taxa, including two new species described from Borneo. J Bryol 29: 67–78.
-
Ellis L.T. 1997. A new species of Calymperes (Musci: Calymperaceae) from Peninsular Malaysia. Bull Nat Hist Mus Lond (Bot) 27: 7–9.
-
Enroth J. & Ji M-C. 2006. Shevockia (Neckeraceae), a new moss genus with two species from southeast Asia. J Hattori Bot Lab 100: 69–76.
-
Enroth J. 1996. Contributions to tropical Asian Neckeraceae (Bryopsida). Hikobia 12: 1–7.
-
Enroth J., Tan B.C. 2007. Stereophyllum linisii (Stereophyllaceae), a new moss species from the Philippines. Ann Bot Fenn 44: 146–148.
-
Froehlich J. 1953. Die von Prof. Dr. Viktor Schiffner in den Jahren 1893/94 in Ceylon, Penang, Singapore, Sumatra und Java gesammelten Laub- und Torfmoose. Ann Naturhist Mus Wien 59: 66–116.
-
Fröhlich J. 1962 [1963]. Musci novi malesiani collecti a Dre. Guil. Meijer. Rev Bryol Lichénol 31: 91–94.
-
Gangulee H. C. 1966 [1967]. Additions to the mosses of eastern India and adjacent regions – II. Nova Hedwigia 12: 414–431.
-
Gradstein S.R., He X.-L., Piippo S., Mizutani M. 2002. Bryophyte flora of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. LXVIII. Lejeuneaceae subfamily Ptychanthoideae (Hepaticae). Acta Bot Fenn 174: 1–88.
-
Gradstein S.R., Tan B.C., Zhu R.-L., Ho B.-C., King C.S.-H., Drubert C., Pitopang R. A catalogue of the bryophytes of Sulawesi, Indonesia. J Hattori Bot Lab 98: 213–257.
-
He S., Snider J.A. 2000. A taxonomic revision of Symphyodon (Musci: Symphyodontaceae). The Bryologist 103: 52–81.
-
Ignatov M., Tan B.C. (Undated) East Asian moss database. http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/sinu/sea_moss/sea_moss_index.html. Cited Mar–Aug 2009.
-
Koponen T., Koponen A. 1974. Tayloria subgenus Orthodon (Splachnaceae) in East Asia. Ann Bot Fenn 11: 216–222.
-
Missouri Botanical Garden. 2009. TROPICOS. http://www.tropicos.org..Cited Mar–Aug 2009.
-
Nihn T. 1993. Mosses of the Tam Dao Mountains, Vietnam. The Bryologist 96: 573–581.
-
Norris D.H., Koponen T. 1989. Bryophyte flora of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. XXVIII. Pottiaceae (Musci). Acta Bot Fenn 137: 81–138.
-
Norris D.H., Koponen T., Buck W.R. 2008. Bryophyte flora of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. LXXI. Merrilliobryum (Myriniaceae, Musci). Ann Bot Fenn 45: 269–276.
-
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. 2003. Interactive Malesian moss database. http://sinu.science.nus.edu.sg/#. Cited Mar–Aug 2009.
-
Reese W.R., Akiyama H., Townsend C.C. 1991. Syrrhopodon pulcher, a new species from Seram and Sulawesi. The Bryologist 94: 419–420.
-
Tan B.C. 1994. The bryophytes of Sabah (North Borneo) with special reference to the BRYOTROP transect of Mount Kinabalu. XIX. The genus Acroporium (Sematophyllaceae, Musci) in Borneo, with notes on species of Java and the Philippines. Willdenowia 24: 255–294.
-
Tan B.C., Ho B.-H., Seah B. K.-B. 2004. Two new moss species, Trichosteleum fleischeri and Splachnobryum temasekensis, from Singapore. J Hattori Bot Lab 96: 223–230.
-
Tan B.C., Houng V.T.T., Ho B.C. 2003. Trachycarpidium echinatum and Weissia platystegia, new to Vietnam and Continental SE Asia. Cryptogamie Bryologie 24: 43–47.
-
Tan B.C., Iwatsuki Z. 1991. A new annotated Philippine moss checklist. Harvard Pap Bot 3: 1–64.
-
Tan B.C., Koponen T., Norris D.H. 2007. Bryophyte flora of the Huon peninsula, Papua New Guinea. LXX. Sematophyllaceae (Musci) 1. Acanthorrhynchium, Acroporium, Clastobryophilum, Pseudopiloecium, Radulina and Trichosteleum. Ann Bot Fenn 44: 35–78.
-
Touw A. 2001. A review of the Thuidiaceae (Musci) and a realignment of taxa traditionally accommodated in Thuidium sensu amplo (Thuidium Schimp., Thuidiopsis (Broth.) M. Fleisch., and Pelekium Mitt.) including Aequatoriella gen. nov., and Indothuidium gen. nov.. J Hattori Bot Lab 90: 167–209.
-
Van Zanten B.O., Townsend C.C. 1999. A re-evaluation of the genus Diaphanodon Renauld & Cardot (Trachypodaceae, Bryopsida). Haussknechtia Beih 9: 399–409.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Giam, X., Ng, T.H., Yap, V.B. et al. The extent of undiscovered species in Southeast Asia. Biodivers Conserv 19, 943–954 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9792-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9792-2