Discovering New Wildlife Species

Exciting new species finds are helping to fuel interest in conserving ecosystems around the globe. The complexity of ecosystems is beginning to be better understood.

Many years ago Aldo Leopold said,

“The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.”

Today we are just staring to really understand what he meant. In fact it is likely that even he did not completely comprehend just how complex each ecosystem can be. Ants and elephants have been linked to healthy acacia trees, an idea that flies in the face of logic-that two species that feed on a plant actually are needed to keep the plant healthy.

And scientists enter an uncharted area and find, not one or two, but as many as 50 new species in one region. It quickly becomes clear that our planet is even more interesting than we ever realized. Right now it seems to be the rainforests that are the stars.

We have just begun to really look at many ecosystems, including the forests of North America and Europe. While we are unlikely to find new mammals in these well traveled lands, there are certainly birds, reptiles and amphibians, not to mention insects and plants that are quietly doing amazing things to keep those forests healthy. Ones that we don't even know about yet.

New species cheer those of us involved in wildlife conservation. Too often we sound like broken and depressing records-threats to this species, extinction of that species, habitat loss and on and on. Its great to be able to look at what people like Marc van Roosmalen are doing in Brazil's rainforest and feel some hope for the future.