Species discovery curve
Imagine you have a big jar and you want to find out how many different types of bugs are living in your backyard. You might start by catching a few bugs and putting them in the jar. As you catch more and more bugs, you start to notice that some of them are the same type of bug that you've already caught. But other bugs are new and different! Exciting!
Eventually, you catch so many bugs that you start to notice that you're not finding as many new and different ones as you did before. You've caught most of the different types of bugs that live in your backyard.
Scientists who study animals and plants (biologists) do the same thing, but on a bigger scale. They might go to a new place, like a jungle or a desert, and start catching different types of animals or plants. When they first start catching things, they're likely to find many types of animals or plants they've never seen before. But as they keep catching things, they start to find more and more of the same things they've already seen, and fewer and fewer new and different things.
The species discovery curve is a graph that shows how many new and different types of animals or plants biologists are finding as they explore a new place. At first, they find a lot of new things. But eventually, they start to find fewer and fewer new things, until they've discovered most or all of the different types of animals or plants that live in that place.
Eventually, you catch so many bugs that you start to notice that you're not finding as many new and different ones as you did before. You've caught most of the different types of bugs that live in your backyard.
Scientists who study animals and plants (biologists) do the same thing, but on a bigger scale. They might go to a new place, like a jungle or a desert, and start catching different types of animals or plants. When they first start catching things, they're likely to find many types of animals or plants they've never seen before. But as they keep catching things, they start to find more and more of the same things they've already seen, and fewer and fewer new and different things.
The species discovery curve is a graph that shows how many new and different types of animals or plants biologists are finding as they explore a new place. At first, they find a lot of new things. But eventually, they start to find fewer and fewer new things, until they've discovered most or all of the different types of animals or plants that live in that place.