Biodiversity communication in the digital era through the Emoji tree of life
Abstract
Emojis enable direct expressions of ideas and emotions in digital communication, also contributing to discussions on biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, the ability of emojis to represent the Earth’s tree of life remains unexplored. Here, we quantified the taxonomic comprehensiveness of currently available nature-related emojis and tested whether the expanding availability of emojis enables a better coverage of extant biodiversity. Currently available emojis encompass a broad range of animal species, while plants, fungi, and microorganisms are underrepresented. Within animals, vertebrates are significantly overrepresented compared to their actual richness, while arthropods are underrepresented. Notwithstanding these taxonomic disparities, animal taxa represented by emojis more than doubled from 2015 to 2022, allowing an improved representation of both taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity, driven by the recent addition of cnidarians and annelids. Creating an inclusive emoji set is essential to ensure a fair representation of biodiversity in digital communication and showcase its importance for biosphere functioning.
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BibTeX
@article{mammola2026biodiversity,
title = {{Biodiversity communication in the digital era through the Emoji tree of life}},
author = {Stefano Mammola and Mattia Falaschi and Gentile Francesco Ficetola},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-04893814v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Biodiversity communication in the digital era through the Emoji tree of life
AU - Stefano Mammola
AU - Mattia Falaschi
AU - Gentile Francesco Ficetola
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
JO - iScience
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
UR - https://hal.science/hal-04893814v1
AB - Emojis enable direct expressions of ideas and emotions in digital communication, also contributing to discussions on biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, the ability of emojis to represent the Earth’s tree of life remains unexplored. Here, we quantified the taxonomic comprehensiveness of currently available nature-related emojis and tested whether the expanding availability of emojis enables a better coverage of extant biodiversity. Currently available emojis encompass a broad range of animal species, while plants, fungi, and microorganisms are underrepresented. Within animals, vertebrates are significantly overrepresented compared to their actual richness, while arthropods are underrepresented. Notwithstanding these taxonomic disparities, animal taxa represented by emojis more than doubled from 2015 to 2022, allowing an improved representation of both taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity, driven by the recent addition of cnidarians and annelids. Creating an inclusive emoji set is essential to ensure a fair representation of biodiversity in digital communication and showcase its importance for biosphere functioning.
SN - 2589-0042
ER -