by Elio
Nameless orphaned bacteria from a lake sediment. Courtesy of D. E. Caldwell. Previously published on the covers of the 2003 issues of International Microbiology.
"Encyclopedia of Life To Catalogue Species" is the headline in the Washington Post that announces a multi-institutional grant of $12.5 million to list and describe 1.8 million species that have a name (about $7 a species). The estimate is that only 10% of all species fall in this category. From what we're learning about bacteria and archaea, the proportion for "our" organisms is almost certainly much lower. Microbes should get a quantity discount.
The news about the EOL is terribly exciting. It will an extraordinary addition to the EarthPortal.org Encyclopedia of Earth (www.eoearth.org) in which 700 scientists have contributed over 3000 articles over the past 18 months.
They've added the 800+ Ecoregions profiles of endangered species from the World Wildlife Fund.
Very cool.
Posted by: Susan | May 11, 2007 at 11:03 AM