Taxonomic bias persists in ecology and evolution research

Ecology and evolution research faces a significant challenge: the excessive focus on certain organisms, mainly vertebrates. This taxonomic bias can hinder innovation and limit the generalization of ecological and evolutionary inferences. A recent study analyzed 1,383,803 articles from 612 journals and found that most research focuses on vertebrates, despite these animals representing only 5% of animal species on the planet ¹.

Taxonomic bias is not a new problem. Since the first studies on the subject in the 2000s, the prevalence of research on vertebrates in the scientific literature has remained constant. Moreover, studies on vertebrates tend to be published in higher-impact journals and receive more citations and media mentions ¹.

The choice of organisms for study is often influenced by the curiosity of scientists. This emotional bias can affect the representativeness of research, which often focuses on species that arouse more interest, rather than reflecting the true diversity of life on Earth ².

Researchers propose urgent actions to mitigate these taxonomic imbalances. The idea is to promote a more balanced distribution of research to include a greater variety of species, especially invertebrates, which are the majority on the planet ¹.