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The almost 4-billion year history of life on Earth has been interrupted by a number of mass extinction events in which a majority of species are driven to extinction and the biosphere reorganizes and slowly rebuilds. We are now in the early phases of a mass extinction event that is unique in the history of life because the species responsible for the changes is also a witness.
As natural areas are destroyed and the climate shifts, the accelerating loss of species has both practical consequences for society but also represents intrinsic and unrecoverable loss of evolutionary history. Conservation and environmental justice groups are doing important work to fight the causes of climate change and habitat loss, and academic journals exist to support the science behind those efforts. Our mission at the Journal of Lost Species is different.
One of the most famous extinctions of the modern era: the last Tasmanian wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus) died in captivity in 1936. (Image: National Archives of Australia)
Our mission at JLS is three-fold: by creating a formal record of extinction, we aim to (1) better understand the processes by which population decline leads to extirpation and extinction, (2) facilitate the rediscovery of species that have not been seen in many years, and (3) preserve a formal memory of species that will never be seen again.
The scope of JLS is the entire tree of life. Although extinctions of charismatic mammals and birds have historically received much of the attention in this area, all of the species currently on Earth are equally-important products of evolutionary history.
The scientific description of new species has a formal methodology and many decades of established, taxonomic protocols. In contrast, the documentation of species loss lacks agreed-upon criteria and protocols, although advances have been made on this front. For example, it has been suggested that 10 years should be used as a benchmark for declaring a species as "lost" (see Long and Rodríguez). This and other criteria are discussed further (Author Guidelines), but here we note that JLS supports flexibility of criteria and methods development. Because the study of contemporary extinctions is relatively new, we don't pretend to have all of the answers, but we aim to support a community of scientists who will.
The Journal of Lost Species aims for a global reach, and to engage with more than just academic researchers. As part of our editorial process, we stress clarity and accessibility such that the press and interested members of the public can use JLS as a resource. For rediscovery in particular, we need broad involvement. We are also taking advantage of modern tools for translation: papers will be published in English, but we will work with all contributors to make sure language is not a barrier. Finally, our financial model is free for readers, and with no costs for authors for most article types (see more at Accessibility).
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