'It's good to love Nemo, but it's the guppy that succeeds': Why are the least studied fish species the most endangered?

“The least studied fish species are the most at risk.” This is the conclusion of a study conducted by Nicolas Mouquet, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research and scientific director of the Center for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis, in Montpellier, and published in the journal Science is advancing.

“To achieve these results, the scientists relied on big data: scientific databases, social networks and statistics on the consultation of Wikipedia pages of different fish. For example, the 2,408 species studied have collected more than 17 million views on Wikipedia, but 50% of the views relate to only 7% of the species studied here, and 20% of the views to only 1% of these species. What’s more: 1% of the species studied account for almost 50% of scientific publications. pointing to CNRS in a press release.

“Among these species that we do not care about, there are many that are threatened with extinction. I am not a whistleblower, I do my job as a researcher to challenge public authorities and research funders. Our work highlights how important it is for the general public but also for the scientific world to have a limited view of biodiversity, which is often attributed to the species we exploit or those that are the stars of documentaries or cartoons.

How can we preserve what we don’t know? This means humility but also a better understanding of these biases in perception that can have dire consequences when it comes to making decisions on a global scale.Nicolas Mouquet, contacted on Tuesday, July 23, explains.

“hard work”

Coral reef fishes were chosen as the basis for the study, knowing that it was possible to carry out the work “On plants or birds”, Public relationsHFeel the benefit of relying on it “A very comprehensive global database, containing lots of images and information on the ecological role of coral reef fishes.”.

By focusing attention on the seas and oceans, it also focuses on them. “A universe that, although heavily influenced by human activity, is still natural.”. And yet already in danger: at sea, “To understand the damage caused by trawling, imagine what would happen on Earth if we destroyed an entire section of tropical forest just to restore a few trees, In coral reefs, “Bleaching episodes are as dangerous as droughts on Earth.”

The demonstration is relentless. To achieve this, the team first investigated “The way humans care about biodiversity,” and “Measuring the popularity of species on social networks, particularly Twitter, but also Flick.”.

I also sifted “Tens of millions of scientific articles”, And “Query the world's largest DNA sequence database” On these types.

“It's hard work, data science.” from him “It requires months of computer processing,” Nicolas Mouquet explains.

“It's good to love Nemo, but it's the goby that works.”

The result, which is worrying “at this moment,” also predicts a future subject to climate change: “We worked with IPCC scenarios, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and IUCM, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, lists.” Determines the population of Montpellier.

This investigation reveals the extent of the“Hidden Biodiversity”but it is nevertheless necessary, and can be compared “The hidden side of the iceberg.”

“Today, research is mainly concerned with the species we exploit, the ones we eat, and the general public with the species that are beautiful or that can be raised in aquariums. Our view is biased, but that is our perception of nature. It is built using hidden biodiversity, and yet it is hidden biodiversity that does the work in ecosystems.The basic work of maintaining planetary balances is now essential.

He said differently: “It's nice to like Nemo, but it's the goby that does the work.” he “It cleans the coral and serves as a meal for the grouper.”