{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,23]],"date-time":"2026-02-23T11:01:49Z","timestamp":1771844509279,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]],"date-time":"2023-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693785600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]],"date-time":"2023-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693785600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nat Ecol Evol"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Whether most species are rare or have some intermediate abundance is a long-standing question in ecology. Here, we use more than one billion observations from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to assess global species abundance distributions (gSADs) of 39 taxonomic classes of eukaryotic organisms from 1900 to 2019. We show that, as sampling effort increases through time, the shape of the gSAD is unveiled; that is, the shape of the sampled gSAD changes, revealing the underlying gSAD. The fraction of species unveiled for each class decreases with the total number of species in that class and increases with the number of individuals sampled, with some groups, such as birds, being fully unveiled. The best statistical fit for almost all classes was the Poisson log-normal distribution. This strong evidence for a universal pattern of gSADs across classes suggests that there may be general ecological or evolutionary mechanisms governing the commonness and rarity of life on Earth.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41559-023-02173-y","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]],"date-time":"2023-09-04T16:02:37Z","timestamp":1693843357000},"page":"1600-1609","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":48,"title":["Unveiling global species abundance distributions"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Corey T.","family":"Callaghan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0802-6235","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Borda-de-\u00c1gua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8125-1463","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roel","family":"van Klink","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7325-8019","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberto","family":"Rozzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1043-1675","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Henrique M.","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"2173_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.2307\/1411","volume":"12","author":"RA Fisher","year":"1943","unstructured":"Fisher, R. A., Corbet, A. S. & Williams, C. B. The relation between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random sample of an animal population. J. Anim. Ecol. 12, 42\u201358 (1943).","journal-title":"J. Anim. Ecol."},{"key":"2173_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"545","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.1979.0045","volume":"286","author":"J Gray","year":"1979","unstructured":"Gray, J. Pollution-induced changes in populations. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 286, 545\u2013561 (1979).","journal-title":"Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B"},{"key":"2173_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"254","DOI":"10.2307\/1930989","volume":"29","author":"FW Preston","year":"1948","unstructured":"Preston, F. W. The commonness and rarity of species. Ecology 29, 254\u2013283 (1948).","journal-title":"Ecology"},{"key":"2173_CR4","first-page":"67","volume":"12","author":"A Dewdney","year":"1997","unstructured":"Dewdney, A. A dynamical model of abundances in natural communities. Coenoses 12, 67\u201376 (1997).","journal-title":"Coenoses"},{"key":"2173_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1037","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1461-0248.2007.01101.x","volume":"10","author":"JL Green","year":"2007","unstructured":"Green, J. L. & Plotkin, J. B. A statistical theory for sampling species abundances. Ecol. Lett. 10, 1037\u20131045 (2007).","journal-title":"Ecol. Lett."},{"key":"2173_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"600","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jtbi.2007.04.006","volume":"247","author":"RA Chisholm","year":"2007","unstructured":"Chisholm, R. A. Sampling species abundance distributions: resolving the veil-line debate. J. Theor. Biol. 247, 600\u2013607 (2007).","journal-title":"J. Theor. Biol."},{"key":"2173_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"881","DOI":"10.1038\/nature01583","volume":"422","author":"BJ McGill","year":"2003","unstructured":"McGill, B. J. A test of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity. Nature 422, 881\u2013885 (2003).","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2173_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"995","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1461-0248.2007.01094.x","volume":"10","author":"BJ McGill","year":"2007","unstructured":"McGill, B. J. et al. Species abundance distributions: moving beyond single prediction theories to integration within an ecological framework. Ecol. Lett. 10, 995\u20131015 (2007).","journal-title":"Ecol. Lett."},{"key":"2173_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1701438","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.1701438","volume":"3","author":"A Tovo","year":"2017","unstructured":"Tovo, A. et al. Upscaling species richness and abundances in tropical forests. Sci. Adv. 3, e1701438 (2017).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"2173_CR10","unstructured":"Darwin, C. On the Origin of Species (John Murray, 1859)."},{"key":"2173_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.1991.0026","volume":"243","author":"S Nee","year":"1991","unstructured":"Nee, S., Harvey, P. H. & May, R. M. Lifting the veil on abundance patterns. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 243, 161\u2013163 (1991).","journal-title":"Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B"},{"key":"2173_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hubbell, S. P. The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography (MPB-32) (Princeton Univ. Press, 2011).","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400837526"},{"key":"2173_CR13","unstructured":"May, R. M. in Ecology and Evolution of Communities (eds Cody, M. L. & Diamond, J. M.) 81\u2013120 (Harvard Univ. Press, 1975)."},{"key":"2173_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.2307\/2529621","volume":"30","author":"M Bulmer","year":"1974","unstructured":"Bulmer, M. On fitting the Poisson lognormal distribution to species-abundance data. Biometrics 30, 101\u2013110 (1974).","journal-title":"Biometrics"},{"key":"2173_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10130","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-66686-3","volume":"10","author":"H Ter Steege","year":"2020","unstructured":"Ter Steege, H. et al. Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora. Sci. Rep. 10, 10130 (2020).","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"2173_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2823","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.2823","volume":"4","author":"E Baldridge","year":"2016","unstructured":"Baldridge, E., Harris, D. J., Xiao, X. & White, E. P. An extensive comparison of species-abundance distribution models. PeerJ 4, e2823 (2016).","journal-title":"PeerJ"},{"key":"2173_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"294","DOI":"10.1006\/tpbi.1997.1370","volume":"54","author":"A Dewdney","year":"1998","unstructured":"Dewdney, A. A general theory of the sampling process with applications to the \u2018veil line\u2019. Theor. Popul. Biol. 54, 294\u2013302 (1998).","journal-title":"Theor. Popul. Biol."},{"key":"2173_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"409","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2656.2005.00936.x","volume":"74","author":"M Williamson","year":"2005","unstructured":"Williamson, M. & Gaston, K. J. The lognormal distribution is not an appropriate null hypothesis for the species-abundance distribution. J. Anim. Ecol. 74, 409\u2013422 (2005).","journal-title":"J. Anim. Ecol."},{"key":"2173_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2025","DOI":"10.1111\/ele.13820","volume":"24","author":"RM Diaz","year":"2021","unstructured":"Diaz, R. M., Ye, H. & Ernest, S. M. Empirical abundance distributions are more uneven than expected given their statistical baseline. Ecol. Lett. 24, 2025\u20132039 (2021).","journal-title":"Ecol. Lett."},{"key":"2173_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"184","DOI":"10.3389\/fevo.2021.626730","volume":"9","author":"LH Ant\u00e3o","year":"2021","unstructured":"Ant\u00e3o, L. H., Magurran, A. E. & Dornelas, M. The shape of species abundance distributions across spatial scales. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9, 184 (2021).","journal-title":"Front. Ecol. Evol."},{"key":"2173_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1442-9993.2004.01365.x","volume":"29","author":"BR Murray","year":"2004","unstructured":"Murray, B. R. & Lepschi, B. J. Are locally rare species abundant elsewhere in their geographical range? Austral Ecol. 29, 287\u2013293 (2004).","journal-title":"Austral Ecol."},{"key":"2173_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"714","DOI":"10.1038\/nature01547","volume":"422","author":"AE Magurran","year":"2003","unstructured":"Magurran, A. E. & Henderson, P. A. Explaining the excess of rare species in natural species abundance distributions. Nature 422, 714\u2013716 (2003).","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2173_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1149","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0706.2009.18236.x","volume":"119","author":"W Ulrich","year":"2010","unstructured":"Ulrich, W., Ollik, M. & Ugland, K. I. A meta-analysis of species-abundance distributions. Oikos 119, 1149\u20131155 (2010).","journal-title":"Oikos"},{"key":"2173_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"eaaz0414","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aaz0414","volume":"5","author":"BJ Enquist","year":"2019","unstructured":"Enquist, B. J. et al. The commonness of rarity: global and future distribution of rarity across land plants. Sci. Adv. 5, eaaz0414 (2019).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"2173_CR25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2023170118","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2023170118","volume":"118","author":"CT Callaghan","year":"2021","unstructured":"Callaghan, C. T., Nakagawa, S. & Cornwell, W. K. Global abundance estimates for 9,700 bird species. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2023170118 (2021).","journal-title":"Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"2173_CR26","unstructured":"Pielou, E. C. et al. An Introduction to Mathematical Ecology (Wiley Interscience, 1969)."},{"key":"2173_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"549","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0587.2011.07128.x","volume":"35","author":"L Borda-de-\u00c1gua","year":"2012","unstructured":"Borda-de-\u00c1gua, L., Borges, P. A., Hubbell, S. P. & Pereira, H. M. Spatial scaling of species abundance distributions. Ecography 35, 549\u2013556 (2012).","journal-title":"Ecography"},{"key":"2173_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1007\/s12080-008-0031-3","volume":"2","author":"AL \u0160izling","year":"2009","unstructured":"\u0160izling, A. L., Storch, D., Reif, J. & Gaston, K. J. Invariance in species-abundance distributions. Theor. Ecol. 2, 89\u2013103 (2009).","journal-title":"Theor. Ecol."},{"key":"2173_CR29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6691","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0810096106","volume":"106","author":"AL \u0160izling","year":"2009","unstructured":"\u0160izling, A. L., Storch, D., \u0160izlingov\u00e1, E., Reif, J. & Gaston, K. J. Species abundance distribution results from a spatial analogy of central limit theorem. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 6691\u20136695 (2009).","journal-title":"Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"2173_CR30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e02750","DOI":"10.1002\/ecs2.2750","volume":"10","author":"MD de Miranda","year":"2019","unstructured":"de Miranda, M. D., Borda-de-\u00c1gua, L., Pereira, H. M. & Merckx, T. Species traits shape the relationship between local and regional species abundance distributions. Ecosphere 10, e02750 (2019).","journal-title":"Ecosphere"},{"key":"2173_CR31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11498","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0801915105","volume":"105","author":"SP Hubbell","year":"2008","unstructured":"Hubbell, S. P. et al. How many tree species are there in the Amazon and how many of them will go extinct? Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 11498\u201311504 (2008).","journal-title":"Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"2173_CR32","unstructured":"Pielou, E. Ecological Diversity (Wiley & Sons, 1975)."},{"key":"2173_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"716","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1461-0248.2010.01463.x","volume":"13","author":"J Rosindell","year":"2010","unstructured":"Rosindell, J., Cornell, S. J., Hubbell, S. P. & Etienne, R. S. Protracted speciation revitalizes the neutral theory of biodiversity. Ecol. Lett. 13, 716\u2013727 (2010).","journal-title":"Ecol. Lett."},{"key":"2173_CR34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"263","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1366-9516.2004.00082.x","volume":"10","author":"W Ulrich","year":"2004","unstructured":"Ulrich, W. & Ollik, M. Frequent and occasional species and the shape of relative-abundance distributions. Divers. Distrib. 10, 263\u2013269 (2004).","journal-title":"Divers. Distrib."},{"key":"2173_CR35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"607177","DOI":"10.3389\/fevo.2021.607177","volume":"9","author":"S Alirezazadeh","year":"2021","unstructured":"Alirezazadeh, S. et al. Spatial scale patterns of functional diversity. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9, 607177 (2021).","journal-title":"Front. Ecol. Evol."},{"key":"2173_CR36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"616","DOI":"10.1093\/sysbio\/syt024","volume":"62","author":"MJ Costello","year":"2013","unstructured":"Costello, M. J., Wilson, S. & Houlding, B. More taxonomists describing significantly fewer species per unit effort may indicate that most species have been discovered. Syst. Biol. 62, 616\u2013624 (2013).","journal-title":"Syst. Biol."},{"key":"2173_CR37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1230318","volume":"339","author":"MJ Costello","year":"2013","unstructured":"Costello, M. J., May, R. M. & Stork, N. E. Can we name Earth\u2019s species before they go extinct? Science 339, 413\u2013416 (2013).","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"2173_CR38","first-page":"55","volume":"71","author":"CT Callaghan","year":"2021","unstructured":"Callaghan, C. T. et al. Three frontiers for the future of biodiversity research using citizen science data. BioScience 71, 55\u201363 (2021).","journal-title":"BioScience"},{"key":"2173_CR39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2018093118","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2018093118","volume":"118","author":"JM Heberling","year":"2021","unstructured":"Heberling, J. M., Miller, J. T., Noesgaard, D., Weingart, S. B. & Schigel, D. Data integration enables global biodiversity synthesis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2018093118 (2021).","journal-title":"Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"2173_CR40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Occurrences (GBIF, accessed 4 February 2021); https:\/\/doi.org\/10.15468\/dl.4dcbgt","DOI":"10.15468\/dl.4dcbgt"},{"key":"2173_CR41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.2307\/3546747","volume":"87","author":"JM Lobo","year":"1999","unstructured":"Lobo, J. M. & Favila, M. E. Different ways of constructing octaves and their consequences on the prevalence of bimodal species abundance distributions. Oikos 87, 321\u2013326 (1999).","journal-title":"Oikos"},{"key":"2173_CR42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e9916","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.9916","volume":"8","author":"A Zizka","year":"2020","unstructured":"Zizka, A. et al. No one-size-fits-all solution to clean GBIF. PeerJ 8, e9916 (2020).","journal-title":"PeerJ"},{"key":"2173_CR43","unstructured":"Prado, P. I., Miranda, M. D.& Chalomm, A. sads: Maximum likelihood models for species abundance distributions. R package version 0.4.2 https:\/\/CRAN.R-project.org\/package=sads (2018)."},{"key":"2173_CR44","unstructured":"GlobalTreeSearch Online Database (BGCI, accessed 2 March 2022); https:\/\/tools.bgci.org\/global_tree_search.php"},{"key":"2173_CR45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v080.i01","volume":"80","author":"P B\u00fcrkner","year":"2017","unstructured":"B\u00fcrkner, P. brms: An R package for Bayesian multilevel models using STAN. J. Stat. Softw. 80, 1\u201328 (2017).","journal-title":"J. Stat. Softw."},{"key":"2173_CR46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Kay, M. tidybayes: Tidy Data and geoms for Bayesian models. R package version 3.0.2 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.1308151 (2022).","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.1308151"},{"key":"2173_CR47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"302","DOI":"10.1093\/biosci\/biad012","volume":"73","author":"CT Callaghan","year":"2023","unstructured":"Callaghan, C. T. et al. Experimental evidence that behavioral nudges in citizen science projects can improve biodiversity data. BioScience 73, 302\u2013313 (2023).","journal-title":"BioScience"},{"key":"2173_CR48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2728","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biocon.2011.02.018","volume":"144","author":"JE Booth","year":"2011","unstructured":"Booth, J. E., Gaston, K. J., Evans, K. L. & Armsworth, P. R. The value of species rarity in biodiversity recreation: a birdwatching example. Biol. Conserv. 144, 2728\u20132732 (2011).","journal-title":"Biol. Conserv."},{"key":"2173_CR49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"431","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.13705","volume":"14","author":"NJ Gotelli","year":"2023","unstructured":"Gotelli, N. J. et al. Estimating species relative abundances from museum records. Methods Ecol. Evol. 14, 431\u2013443 (2023).","journal-title":"Methods Ecol. Evol."},{"key":"2173_CR50","volume":"12","author":"DE Bowler","year":"2022","unstructured":"Bowler, D. E. et al. Decision-making of citizen scientists when recording species observations. Sci. Rep. 12, 11069 (2022).","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"2173_CR51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Stoudt, S., Goldstein, B. R. & de Valpine, P. Identifying engaging bird species and traits with community science observations. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2110156119.","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2110156119"},{"key":"2173_CR52","unstructured":"R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2022)."},{"key":"2173_CR53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1686","DOI":"10.21105\/joss.01686","volume":"4","author":"H Wickham","year":"2019","unstructured":"Wickham, H. et al. Welcome to the Tidyverse. J. Open Source Softw. 4, 1686 (2019).","journal-title":"J. Open Source Softw."}],"container-title":["Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41559-023-02173-y.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41559-023-02173-y","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41559-023-02173-y.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,5]],"date-time":"2023-10-05T16:09:22Z","timestamp":1696522162000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41559-023-02173-y"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]]},"references-count":53,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10]]}},"alternative-id":["2173"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41559-023-02173-y","relation":{},"ISSN":["2397-334X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2397-334X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]]},"assertion":[{"value":"29 April 2023","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"18 July 2023","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"4 September 2023","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}]}}