Ecuador is a megadiverse country, with one of the highest biodiversity rates on the planet: a small fraction of its territory can contain more species than an entire country. This natural exuberance means that no more than five or six months go by without an unknown species being discovered. These are exciting discoveries which, however, must have a clear taxonomic correlation; that is, a systematic classification and arrangement, which begins by giving the new specimen a name. Having or not having a name can be the condition of its conservation.
In the period 2014-2022, for example, 15 scientific articles were published in high-impact journals, in which professors from the University were involved. Private Technical Store (UTPL). In them, the discoveries of 20 new species for science were announced, that is, a new species every 146 days.
These discoveries were produced in the areas of herpetology (13), botany (four), mammology (one), entomology (one) and paleontology (one). In this last field, thanks to the revelation, in the year 2020, that a species of titanosaur, called Yamanasaurus lojaensis, lived 85 million years ago in the province of Loja. It should be noted that this was the only dinosaur discovered in Ecuador so far.
Abra de Zamora is an important ecosystem in southern Ecuador. Some frog species discovered here have not been found again after their original description. / Photo courtesy of Paul Székely
At this point, researchers reflect on their contributions to knowledge and on the most diligent way to continue these explorations.
According Paul Székelyresearch professor at UTPL, who participated in the description of 11 species of amphibians new to science, these conditions (of biological richness) have led, paradoxically, to a context of lack of knowledge.
In his opinion, to advance in the discovery of new species “it is important to know what exists”. This is undoubtedly the result of scientific curiosity, but, in turn, such revelation must have a practical function and lead to better conservation of the newly discovered species.
Biological richness can paradoxically lead to a knowledge deficit if new species are not named and classified for their conservation.
“If there are species that don’t have a name, it’s not possible to catalog or determine their conservation status or degree of threat”, says the researcher. This means that no action can be taken to protect you. “The survival of an entire species may depend on the name,” he emphasizes.
the value of the word
All knowledge has a starting point and begins with a name, the name we give to a phenomenon, a concept, a plant, a characteristic, a property, an animal or an action. What has no name does not exist in our perceived reality, much less can it form part of our knowledge system.
So far, around 1.2 million species have been discovered belonging to the five kingdoms: animal, plant, fungus, chromista and protozoan. Every year, around 18,000 new species are described, although most remain unknown: around 86% of all species have yet to be found (or named), while the rate of extinction accelerates.
Carl von Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy (the hierarchical classification of living things, from the broadest to the most exclusive levels, according to their evolutionary characteristics), said that “if you ignore the names of things, what do you know about them? also disappears.” they”.
Thus, the description of a new species adds one more piece to a puzzle in which we have to continue to discover other unknowns.
If you ignore the names of things, what you know about them also disappears.
Carl von Linnaeus
Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, reflected on the researcher’s skills in the face of the discovery, stating that “the discovery is not the result of any originally special talent, but of common sense, improved and strengthened by technical education and by the habit of meditating on scientific problems.
Indeed, many scientific discoveries resulted from systematic work; in others, luck or chance were important to find the key, but always, as Louis Pasteur would say, “luck only favors the prepared mind”.
multiplicity of lives
Once a name is given to the species, it will be catalogued. From belonging to a group, within a systematized catalog, the next phase should focus on knowing more details such as the size of the population, its needs, symbiotic relationships and distribution, among others.
‘Pristimantis lojanus’, species discovered near the city of Loja (Ecuador), by a UTPL team. / Illustration by Natali Alban
In Ecuador there are species of amphibians that are considered microendemic, that is, they are only found in a ravine or in a mountainous area, due to the barriers between populations that emerged with the rise of the Andes. These phenomena led to differentiated evolutionary processes. In turn, cases of widely distributed species are also described, as occurs in coastal or Amazon regions.
These are the two sides of a coin: on the one hand, incredible biodiversity and, at the same time, being among the countries in South America with the highest rate of deforestation
Paul Székely
Due to the lack of financial and human resources for conservation, “we must concentrate our efforts on super-urgent cases”, warns Székely. This would imply, precisely, some cases of microendemic fauna that inhabit a single very specific location that, if modified, could lead to the extinction of an entire species. “Although we have to be aware that this doesn’t mean that the more widely distributed species don’t also have their problems”, he qualifies.
They are two sides of the same coin, in the words of the scientist. On the one hand, “incredible biodiversity” and, at the same time, appear “among the South American countries with the highest rate of deforestation”. Every day, he continues, “with every forest that is destroyed, we don’t even know what we are losing”. Hence his questioning and his statement: “I don’t see that scientific data is being used to make decisions”.
Efforts should be directed to super-urgent cases, such as those of microendemic fauna that inhabit a single location, without losing sight of the most widely distributed species
Székely remembers that both he and other children of his generation grew up at a time when they could still “enjoy a rich biodiversity, with abundant butterflies and hummingbirds”, and regrets that, possibly “in two generations”, children not even the Székely to meet. The researcher finds this situation unacceptable, which leads to a question that is a cry: “why not conserve?”