The biodiversity of invertebrates is key to planetary health.

Professor Evan Economo, head of the Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University, has been chosen as Japan's National Champion for the Frontiers Planet Prize. The prize recognizes scientists whose research contributes to human safety in Earth's ecosystems. Economo's research, published in the journal Science Advances, created the first high-resolution global biodiversity map for ants, an important invertebrate group. This map can be used for global conservation planning and provides a guide for further discovery. The three International Champions will be announced in June. [Extracted from the article]