Wildlife trading, a multibillion-dollar industry, affects species ranging from lizards to elephants, but the number of affected species has always been a guess. Now, UF wildlife ecologist Brett Scheffers has estimated that nearly 5,600 species (about 18 percent of terrestrial vertebrate animals) are affected.

“Almost one in five is a very large number,” says Scheffers. “What’s surprising and important about this work is that, for the first time, we know the sheer magnitude of the global wildlife trade.” He also found that traded species are significantly more likely to be endangered than nontraded ones.

• Brett Scheffers