The Species 2000 programme, which aims to catalogue all species on the planet, celebrated a major milestone today by reaching the 1 million mark. Researchers worldwide are working to make a comprehensive list of all species on earth and they have so far managed to list 1,009,000 species in total.
"Many are surprised that, despite over two centuries of work by biologists and the current worldwide interest in biodiversity, there is currently no comprehensive catalogue of all known species of organisms on Earth," said Professor Thomas Orrell, a biologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Scientists are hoping to finish the catalog by 2011. It is estimated that a total of 1.75 million species would have been entered into the database by then. However experts are of the opinion that some 8 to 12 million species inhabit the planet.
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System - Species 2000 Catalogue of Life is supposed to be a comprehensive database of all species on the planet with the exception of fossilized species that inhabited Earth in the past.
Prof Orrell and Prof Frank Bisby, of the University of Reading are leading some 3,000 biologists in this enterprise. Different teams are working on different aspects and bringing together their research in a comprehensive manner.
"The Catalogue of Life is like a telephone book listing all organisms and where they can be found. It is the whole-Earth equivalent of the human genome project," Prof Bisby said.
