Temporal trends in the species discovery of Brazilian amphibians

• Grant number: 22/15247-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2023
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Mario Ribeiro de Moura
• Grantee: Rosana Chen Zhao
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/11840-6 - Big Data & biodiversity conservation: assessing the impact of biodiversity knowledge accumulation on conservation planning, AP.JP

Abstract

About 1.8 million species have been described since Linnaeus's proposition of the binomial nomenclature system in 1758, but most species on the planet remain yet unknown. The description of a species is ultimately a scientific hypothesis, which can be revised, refuted, revalidated and thus lead to changes in the current taxonomy. While accelerating species discoveries is essential to optimize conservation planning, the process of delimiting, naming, and classifying new species needs to be cautious to avoid unnecessary taxonomic instability. Amphibians are one of the tetrapod groups with the highest number of recent descriptions. About 3500 species have been described since 1990. Identifying factors that determine their robustness can contribute to greater taxonomic stability, reduce the discard of species due to nomenclatural problems in databases, and increase the number of species included in biodiversity conservation research.