MYCOLab Ai Logo - gold and army green

The Diversity of Ignorance and the Ignorance of Diversity: Origins and Implications of ‘Shadow Diversity’ for Conservation Biology and Extinction

Summary

This research introduces the concept of ‘shadow diversity’ to describe species that exist but remain unknown to science. The study examines why some species are discovered and studied while others remain unknown, considering factors like historical biases, funding priorities, and cultural values. This work is important for understanding and protecting biodiversity that we haven’t yet discovered. Impacts on everyday life: • Helps protect unknown species that may have future benefits for medicine, agriculture, or ecosystem health • Improves our understanding of why certain species get more attention and research funding than others • Provides better ways to discuss and value undiscovered species in conservation efforts • Highlights the importance of considering all forms of life, not just well-known species, in conservation planning • Encourages more inclusive approaches to biodiversity research and protection

Background

Biodiversity shortfalls and taxonomic bias can lead to inaccurate assessment of conservation priorities. Previous literature has explored practical reasons why some species are discovered sooner or are better researched than others. However, the deeper socio-cultural causes for undiscovered and neglected biodiversity, and the value of collectively analyzing species at risk of unrecorded or ‘dark’ extinction, have not been fully examined.

Objective

The study aims to introduce and define the concept of ‘shadow diversity’ to shift perspective from biodiversity shortfalls to living, albeit unknown, species. The authors review research on undiscovered, undetected and hidden biodiversity across conservation biology, macroecology and genetics while drawing on philosophy, geography, history and sociology to demonstrate how socio-cultural factors combine with practical impediments to limit species discovery and detection.

Results

The study found that ‘cryptic extinction’ was the most frequent term used in research regarding unknown extinctions. The prefix ‘cryptic’ was most commonly used for unknown biodiversity, followed by ‘undescribed’ and ‘unknown’. The research revealed that there has been more research effort on unknown extant species in conservation sciences than anthropogenic unknown extinctions. The authors identified mixed patterns in approaches for unknown extinctions and a split macro-, microscale trend for unknown biodiversity, along with imprecise use of terms that complicate creating a coherent picture of neglected taxa.

Conclusion

The concept of shadow diversity provides a useful framework for referring to missing and undiscovered biodiversity while exploring multidisciplinary aspects of anticipated dark extinctions and neglected organisms. The study demonstrates that a wider web of root causes, including historical, sociocultural and biopolitical factors, impacts why some biodiversities remain understudied despite available investigation methods. The multidisciplinary nature of shadow diversity’s causes necessitates a multidisciplinary approach to further research in this area.
  • Published in:Cambridge Prisms: Extinction,
  • Study Type:Review,
  • Source: 10.1017/ext.2024.21
Scroll to Top