New research out of Michigan State University has estimated heavy declines in some Panama snake species.
Researchers say the findings could have alarming implications for global biodiversity.
The research hinges on the importance of estimation. Snakes are hard to track. Rare sightings make for a less than ideal dataset.
But in a protected region near El Cope, Panama scientists have kept good data on local amphibian populations - both before and after a fungal pathogen wiped out many of them.
So Michigan State University researchers have estimated the likelihood that the number of snake species in the region has declined based on the more measurable declines in local amphibian populations.
Researcher Elise Zipkin said the study estimates an 85% chance that there are fewer snake species in Panama.
“Unfortunately I think this means the biodiversity crisis is probably worse than we’re able to estimate,” Zipkin said. “Here’s a species, this is the cascading effect of some biodiversity loss, we lost frogs and now what we find is the snake community is doing worse off.”
The biodiversity crisis has been difficult to quantify globally because only a few organisms have been well studied. For data deficient species, like the Panama snakes, Zipkin said there’s no way to know with 100% certainty what is going on.
“But I think we should be a little bit concerned and be thinking about what is happening with data deficient species that we can’t estimate stuff for,” she said. “We do tend to know that rare species are in more trouble in general because they exist in lower abundance.”
Zipkin said the research connects to other efforts to understand how global declines in insects and birds might be impacting other, less-studied species.