Czech scientists help identify formula for extinction process

Prague, June 25 (CTK) - A Czech-U.S. team of natural scientists has discovered a universal mathematical formula describing how the numbers of vertebrate species change in a given area, which can help estimate the number of species that would die out if their habitats were destroyed, Alena Jecminkova told CTK yesterday.

Jecminkova, from Charles University's Faculty of Natural Sciences, said the research result has been published by the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

"The discovery will help use the available data to better estimate the number of species in a respective area. It is important that the bigger portion of the environment devastated, the higher the number of the species we can potentially exterminate," said David Storch, from the Natural Sciences Faculty, whose team cooperated in the research with scientists from the U.S. Yale University.

"The species inhabiting small areas are the most endangered of all. Their strict protection is necessary unless we want to see them die out en masse," Storch added.