Census of Marine Life
Census of Marine Life is a central project of marine biologists in the study of the oceans .
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Between 2000 and 2010, the international project employed scientists in more than 82 countries to study the oceans. A database saved their findings, which go far beyond the description of newly discovered species. The aim is to better track migrations of whales , sharks and schools of fish and to estimate the biomass in the oceans more precisely. In addition, in the History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) project, led by the University of Hull, the development of marine life should be reconstructed at least over the last 500, if possible even 2000 years. Another project in this context was Future of Marine Animal Populations (FMAP). There were 14 sub-projects for field research.
Problem
The lead researchers came to the conclusion in 2004 that mankind has explored less than five percent of the world's oceans. In this context, researchers from the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education in Washington add that although humans live on a planet whose surface consists of 70 percent water, we know less about the sea floor than about the surface of the moon. In order to facilitate research and to attract as many employees as possible, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is a free international database that is supposed to record all marine life. In June 2011 there were 31.3 million entries for 116,600 species. However, one suspects a total species occurrence between 1 million and 10 million species. On average, three new species are documented each week. It is therefore not foreseeable when sufficient results will be available for the respective questions.
First results
The first results were published in August 2010. In the various marine regions examined, between 2,600 and 33,000 eukaryotic species were found and 1,200 previously unknown species were newly discovered. The newly discovered species include planktonic organisms, octopuses, and deep-sea fish. The most species-rich regions with 32,889 and 32,777 species are the seas around Australia and Japan. In the Mediterranean 16,848 species have been found in the European Atlantic and 12,270 in the Baltic Sea 5865.
The species are proportionally divided into the following taxa:
- 19% crustaceans (Crustacea)
- 17% molluscs (Mollusca)
- 12% fish (pisces)
- 10% protozoa
- 10% algae and other plant-like organisms
- 7% annelids (Annelida)
- 5% cnidarians (Cnidaria)
- 3% flatworms (Platyhelminthes)
- 3% echinoderms (Echinodermata)
- 3% sponges (Porifera)
- 2% bryozoans (Bryozoa)
- 1% tunicates (Tunicata)
The following table shows the number of species for all marine regions investigated (if countries are specified, this naturally refers to the coasts and adjacent marine areas) and their percentage distribution among the most important groups of living organisms:
| region | species | Cancer . | Gives way . | fishes | Protozoa | Seaweed | Ringelw. | Nettle. | Otherwise. Invertebrates | Plattw. | Prickly | Sponges | Moss. | Otherwise. Vertebrates | Coats. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 32,889 | 19th | 26th | 16 | 2 | 6th | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Japan | 32,777 | 19th | 26th | 12 | 14th | 7th | 3 | 6th | 4th | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| China | 22,365 | 19th | 18th | 14th | 21st | 5 | 5 | 6th | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Mediterranean Sea | 16,848 | 13 | 13 | 4th | 24 | 7th | 7th | 4th | 13 | 6th | 1 | 4th | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Gulf of Mexico | 15,374 | 17th | 16 | 10 | 14th | 13 | 6th | 5 | 4th | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 12,780 | 17th | 18th | 10 | 12 | 11 | 4th | 6th | 4th | 2 | 4th | 4th | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| South Africa | 12,715 | 18th | 24 | 15th | 2 | 7th | 6th | 7th | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| European Atlantic | 12,270 | 18th | 11 | 9 | 4th | 28 | 13 | 4th | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4th | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Caribbean | 12,046 | 24 | 25th | 11 | 7th | 5 | 5 | 8th | 3 | 1 | 4th | 4th | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Humboldt Current | 10.186 | 31 | 12 | 11 | 7th | 5 | 6th | 5 | 8th | 2 | 4th | 2 | 4th | 2 | 1 |
| California (USA) | 10.160 | 26th | 7th | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8th | 4th | 7th | 14th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Korea | 9,900 | 14th | 19th | 11 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 25th | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Brazil | 9.101 | 22nd | 20th | 14th | 3 | 9 | 11 | 6th | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4th | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 8,244 | 16 | 16 | 15th | 10 | 12 | 4th | 6th | 3 | 8th | 4th | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Antarctic | 8,200 | 35 | 9 | 4th | 8th | 4th | 7th | 6th | 7th | 2 | 7th | 3 | 4th | 3 | 1 |
| South America, tropical Pacific coast | 6,696 | 13 | 13 | 18th | 14th | 5 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 5,925 | 26th | 8th | 7th | 13 | 7th | 9 | 4th | 10 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6th | 2 | 1 |
| Baltic Sea | 5,865 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 20th | 30th | 7th | 2 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| USA, northeast coast | 5,045 | 16 | 17th | 19th | 1 | 12 | 14th | 4th | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4th | 1 |
| USA, southeast coast | 4,229 | 16 | 17th | 28 | 4th | 8th | 9 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Patagonia, shelf | 3,776 | 16 | 22nd | 14th | 0 | 7th | 5 | 7th | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7th | 4th | 5 | 1 |
| Canada, Atlantic coast | 3,160 | 23 | 7th | 17th | 19th | 12 | 14th | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Canada, polar sea | 3,038 | 24 | 5 | 6th | 12 | 36 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| South America, trop. West. Atlantic | 2,743 | 19th | 16 | 32 | 2 | 5 | 6th | 5 | 2 | 0 | 4th | 1 | 0 | 8th | 1 |
| Canada, Pacific Coast | 2,636 | 18th | 7th | 14th | 4th | 38 | 14th | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Average | 10,759 | 19th | 17th | 12 | 10 | 10 | 7th | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
literature
- Darlene Trew Crist, Gail Scowcroft & James M. Harding Jr: World Ocean Census: A Global Survey of Marine Life . Firefly Books: 2009.
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Census of Marine Life. First Census of Marine Life Shows Ocean Life Is Richer, More Connected, More Altered Than Expected. ScienceDaily, October 5, 2010.
Individual evidence
- ^ Poul Holm: History of marine animal populations: a global research program of the Census of marine life. In: Oceanologica Acta . Volume 25, number 5, 2002, pp. 207-211, doi : 10.1016 / S0399-1784 (02) 01200-8 .
- ↑ FMAP website . Retrieved May 5, 2011.
- ^ B Worm: The future of marine animal populations . In: MacIntyre AD (ed) (Ed.): Life in the World's Oceans: Diversity, Distribution and Abundance . Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, 2010, pp. 315-330.
- ^ Census of Marine Life. What Lives in the Sea? Census of Marine Life Publishes Historic Roll Call of Species in 25 Key World Areas . ScienceDaily, August 3, 2010.
- ↑ a b Costello MJ, Coll M, Danovaro R, Halpin P, Ojaveer H, et al. (2010) A Census of Marine Biodiversity Knowledge, Resources, and Future Challenges. PLoS ONE 5 (8): e12110. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0012110