Researchers said the tally of Amazon tree species is officially 11,676, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
The researchers compiled species data from as far back as the 18th century to make their list, which Nigel Pitman, a tropical forest ecologist as the Field Museum in Chicago and study author, told the New York Times is the first such list of Amazonian trees ever developed.
“With this list we are answering ‘How many species have been found?’ and ‘What are they?’” he said.
The tally was determined by analyzing more than 500,000 digitized samples of fruits, flowers and leaves collected over the past 300 years.
The study’s authors previously predicted a total of 16,000 species existed in the Amazon. They told the New York Times that this new tally supports their earlier prediction—there could still be thousands of species “hiding in museum drawers that have yet to be digitized.”
