Joan Miller

IST 511: Writing Workshop

Paragraphing Assignment

Protecting worldwide biodiversity requires the help of public volunteers (citizen

scientists); saving the planet cannot be left to scientists alone. Humans depend on species
biodiversity for everything they need for survival, such as food, clean water, shelter, medicine
and air. Alarmingly, scientific estimates have revealed an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity
over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way
(Ceballos, 2015). However, according to Jay T. Lennon, a biology professor at Indiana
University, recent large-scale analysis reveals that a staggering 99.999 percent of the Earth’s
species remain undiscovered. (2016) Scientists have finite resources and limited time to
document and study these unknown species before it is too late to understand how vital they are
to everyone’s survival. Enlisting the help of volunteer citizen scientists to record species data is
both vital and economical, and helps to educate and engage citizens to be part of the solution.

References:
Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R., Barnosky, A. D., Garcia, A., Pringle, R. M., & Palmer, T. M.
(2015). Accelerated modern human-induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass
extinction. Science Advances,1(5). doi:10.1126/sciadv.1400253
Locey, K.J., & Lennon, J.T. (2016). Scaling laws predict global microbial diversity. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(21), 5970-5975.
https://doi.org/10/1073/pnas.1521291113