More than 107,000 species of wild animals, plants and fungi are used or traded globally, more than double the previous estimate of 50,000.
The study, published in Science Advances, identifies 47,685 animal species and at least 49,723 plant species recorded in trade.
Researchers found that existing international databases fail to capture thousands of traded species, particularly invertebrates and fungi.
Wildlife trade, driven by demand for exotic pets, medicines, food and luxury products, raises concerns over biodiversity loss, disease transmission and invasive species.
Current global biodiversity indicators cover only a fraction of traded species, prompting calls for digital permits, better customs reporting and stronger monitoring.
More than 107,000 species of wild animals, plants and fungi are used or traded worldwide, more than double previous estimates, according to a new study that highlights major gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring.
The study, published in the journal Science Advances, estimated that at least 107,356 non-domesticated species are involved in wildlife use and trade, compared with nearly 50,000 identified in a 2022 assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Researchers identified 47,685 animal species and at least 49,723 plant species recorded in trade. The analysis also covered fungi, making it the first global assessment of wildlife trade monitoring systems across all three groups.
The researchers found that existing national and international databases capture widely varying numbers of traded species, suggesting that the true scale of wildlife trade remains underestimated.
Of the 47,685 animal species identified in trade, up to 31,306 were vertebrates, representing 42 per cent of all described vertebrate species. “An additional 676 animal species were listed in the appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) but were not recorded in trade, suggesting they were not being legally traded internationally,” according to the study.
Scientific studies often show that the numbers captured in global trade databases are greatly underestimated, particularly for taxa in which a smaller proportion of internationally traded species are represented in conventions such as CITES [e.g., reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates]The true scale of global wildlife trade is obscuredby data gaps, Science Advances journal
The study found that the US Law Enforcement Management Information System uniquely recorded 27.5 per cent of traded animal species, highlighting how much information is missing from other databases.
Invertebrates were particularly poorly represented, having historically received limited attention in trade monitoring systems.
At least 16,829 animal species were confirmed to be traded for commercial purposes. Overall, researchers documented 79,554 species in international trade potentially for commercial use.
Among plants, medicinal applications accounted for the largest recorded use category, involving 26,842 species, followed by 13,418 species used for timber and other materials.
The study also identified 59,671 plant and fungi species in a broader assessment of wildlife use, although this included subsistence and other non-commercial activities and could not be treated entirely as trade.
Wildlife is traded for medicinal products, biomedical research, exotic pets, ornamental plants, fashion, food and industrial materials.
The exotic pet and aquarium trade involves species including songbirds, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, butterflies and ornamental fish. Researchers identified social media, online marketplaces and changing consumer demand as factors influencing this trade.
Wildlife is also harvested for leather goods, jewellery, decorative items and hunting trophies, while fisheries and wild meat supply food and other products.
The study warned that inadequate monitoring could increase the risks of overexploitation, the spread of diseases from animals to humans and the introduction of invasive species.
Researchers estimated the annual value of legal wildlife trade at 220 billion-300 billion (£170 billion-£230 billion approximately), compared with 28.4 billion-39.5 billion for illegal trade.
The study found that indicators under the UN's Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework capture only a small proportion of species involved in wildlife trade.
These indicators cover an estimated 6-11 per cent of internationally traded vertebrate species and just 1.8-2.5 per cent of species recorded in wildlife use and trade.
The researchers warned that existing indicators could therefore leave more than 98 per cent of traded species outside some forms of international monitoring.
They called for stronger species-level reporting, including for wildlife not covered by the CITES.
To improve oversight, the researchers recommended replacing paper-based permits with electronic systems such as eCITES and using optical character recognition and machine learning to extract species information from shipping documents.
Automated checks could help verify species identities, identify discrepancies between declared and actual shipments, and detect potential laundering of illegally sourced wildlife.
Such systems could also flag cases where animals are declared as originating from countries where they do not naturally occur.
The study called for standardised customs declarations across countries to ensure that species not currently covered by CITES are monitored before declining populations require stronger protection.