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Home , Census of Marine Life, Cetomimidae, Escarpia laminata, Hymenodora glacialis, Limacina, Marine life

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-1- 2010 Census of 2010 1 202 232 3900 Printed in the United States of America © All Rights Reserved How the Census Worked Worked Census the How Teams Census The Photo Credits & Image Sources Editors: Jesse H. Ausubel, Waggoner E. Crist, and Paul Darlene Trew Designer: Darrell McIntire Contributors: 2,700 marine scientists from around the globe ISBN: 978 A publication of the Census of Marine Life International Secretariat Consortium Leadership for Suite 420 NW Avenue, New York 1201 20005 USA DC Washington, www.coml.org [email protected] + FIRST CENSUS FIRST 2010 LIFE OF MARINE A DECADE OF HIGHLIGHTS OF DISCOVERY CONTENTS at life, marine like captions volume, this blue approach may Readers and images of sequence A combination. the levels. and different text, black the does as story, the tell Summary Introduction Diversity Distribution Legacies A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Arctic Ocean

Atlantic Pacific Ocean Ocean

Indian Ocean

Southern Ocean

•

• Ridge

1. The encompass almost 10 times as much deep (averaging 4,000 meters) as shallow shelf (up to 200 meters). Shelves may be as narrow as 5 kilometers (e.g., off California or Chile) or as wide as hundreds of kilometers (e.g., off China or Argentina). Until recently, most activities, and their impacts, have concentrated on the shallow shelves highlighted in pink around land here. The largest oceans are the Pacific and the Southern, which whirls like a carousel around . ’s Southern Hemisphere is 80 percent , mostly very deep. Undersea mountain ranges or ridges divide ocean basins, and an estimated 33,000 – 68,000 seamounts higher than 1,000 meters rise from the seafloor.Image: Census of Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team

2. Between the shallow pink shelves that extend to a depth of about 200 meters around continents and the blue abyssal plains beneath the that average about 4,000 meters deep, the gray continental margins slope downward. Their gradient, exaggerated in this rendering, brings great and little-explored . The margins also offer access to vast resources of petroleum and natural gas. In the view here, the world’s longest mountain range, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, traverses the ocean from north to south.

RESANSMAN LAVI MAREN RESANSMAN LAVI Image: Census of Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team

2 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 3 ------Applying genetic analysis on an unprecedent With sound, satellites, and electronics, some After all its work, the Census still could not reli Now can anyone see the of distribution a compiled species of addresses and names the With have explorers where reveal data Census same The Distribution The froze Census lead, melt would found heat where even living looked, creatures everywhere it expanded It lacking. to and were and , light ex to known is life which in ranges and known normal. is extreme habitats, marine in that found It ist. ed scale to a dataset of 35,000 species differing from major widely groupings of marine life, sus graphed the the Cen proximity and distance of relations among distinct species, painting a new picture of the genetic the With structuremarinediversity. of genetic sometimes Census the barcoding, called often analysis shrank seeming diversity by revealing that had been mistakenly called separate, its analyses but expanded the generally number of species—and es pecially the number of kinds of different microbes, . and including tracking Census the itself, life carried by times marine of thousands of mapped migratory routes of and places and meeting charted their of species scores blue highways across the interconnected ocean. The swam they as surroundings animals’ measured tracking and dove and they where revealed succeed and where favored zones temperature found Census The die. they by animals and saw the immigration into new condi ice. melting as such tions access that site Web a iobis.org, at name its entering by the in compiled species of “addresses” and names the es database. life marine global Census’s in the database, the Census found and mapped the places of high and low of diversity marine life, global ly. Coastal species showed maximum diversity in the spe of high diversity whereas Pacific, Western tropical cies the frequenting open ocean peaked across broad in bands and all water In oceans. deep mid-latitudinal on the deep-sea floor, the Census patterns discovered of life on ridges, seamounts, abyssal plains, and the and new provinces and defined margins of continents classifications. 20 than more For ocean. unknown the looked, yet not still database Census the volume, ocean’s the of percent few. very areas vast for and all, at records no has ably estimate the total number of species, the kinds of kindsof the species, of totalestimatenumber the ably life, known and unknown, in the ocean. It could log ically extrapolate to leastat a million kinds marine of life that earn the rank of species and to tens or even millions kinds of microbes. of hundreds of ------

In the 2000, the scientists founding the Delving in archives, setting out on more than Many books, papers, Web sites, videos, films, With its collective digital archive grown digital archive to its With almost collective Diversity ed to opportunities to discover new kinds of life and the in life totalof diversityestimatethe catalogand to vast global ocean. Others asked, “What where?” marineTheyhighlighted establishinglife of addresses trav and neighborhoods of maps drawingreliable and els. Still each of lives?” others much and asked, “How pointed to the human appetite for . Everyone worriedchanges about in marine life and the need to knowledge. with sound management improve Census of Marine Life converged on worldwide Census a to assess strategy, and explain a the diversi ty, distribution, and abundance of marine life. The founders organized the Census around three grand questions: What did live in the oceans? What does live in the oceans? What will live in the oceans? They knowledge to limits the explore to program a designed 2010. Theyyearmarineagreed the life. in report of to 540 expeditions in all ocean realms, and partnering with other organizations and programs, sci the 2,700 entists from more than 80 nations who have become the Census community have assembled, augmented, oceans.the in life knownabout is organized what and They have drawn baselines for measuring changes of marine life after natural changes and human actions. Equally important, the Census has systematically de the firstlineated for time the unknown ocean. maps, and databases now form and report the Cen sus. The pages highlighthere its findings, describe its worked. it tell and how legacies, In the late 1990s, leading marine their scientists shared concerns that what humanity’s lives in the oceans lagged far understanding behind our desire of and need to know. Some emphasized the question, “What kinds of life inhabit the oceans?” They point SUMMARY cies, cies, which are the currency It of upped diversity. the 230,000 about from species marine known of estimate to nearly 250,000. Among the millions of specimens , in both and collected familiar seldom-explored spe new potentially 6,000 than more found Census the cies and formal of completed descriptions more than common. are species rare that found It them. of 1,200 first the compiled Census the observations, 30 million diver species marine of comparisons global and the of regional list comprehensive first the create to helped It sity. Sep in 190,000 passing already species, for marine known pages Web compose to helped also and 2010, tember Life. of Encyclopedia the in them of 80,000 than more The Census encountered an unanticipated riot of riot spe an unanticipated The Census encountered A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Abundance lines will help assess changes such as warming After establishing historical baselines from sightings, water or damage from oil spills. catches, and even restaurant menus, the Census docu- Regarding technology, the Census proved new mented declining numbers and sizes, too, even within technology, such as DNA barcoding for the identifi- a human generation. In enough cases to encourage cation of marine life. It arrayed microphones from conservation, the Census documented the recovery of California past Canada to Alaska to pioneer a global some species. History shows people began catching ma- ocean tracking network for animals, invented Autono- rine life long ago, and their extractions are far broader mous Reef Monitoring Structures to standardize global in scope than once thought. Historically, assessment of reef life, and fostered acoustic systems to and habitat destruction lead the ranking of threats to measure abundances over tens of thousands of square marine life associated with human activities. kilometers. Together, these technologies show that the With sound, the Census observed tens of mil- incipient Global Ocean Observing System can observe lions of assembling swiftly and swimming in life as well as water temperature and waves. coordinated schools as large as Manhattan island, and Regarding work habits, the Census brought sci- also saw hosts of animals commuting at regular hours, entists with different interests from different nations moving back and forth to the surface from hundreds together under one umbrella, to use standard proto- of meters below. cols for sampling marine life from the deep sea to The Census affirmed that by weight most ma- the near shore, to speed the adoption of good tech- rine life is microbial, up to 90 percent. The weight of niques, to build capacity economically, and to jump Earth’s marine microbes equaled about 35 elephants start initiatives in marine research. It strengthened for every living person. partnerships of scholars in the humanities and natu- Analyzing indirect observations from oceango- ral and social sciences to use archival research to build ing vessels since 1899, Census researchers discovered the picture of life in oceans past and assess changing that the food-producing near the sur- diversity, distribution, and abundance. face has declined, globally. The Census maps of the As it worked, the Census found that the causes global seafloor showed that the delivery of food in a separating the known, unknown, and unknowable “snow” from water above controlled the mass of liv- about marine life fall into five categories: the invisi- ing things on the floor. On the seafloor, the quantity bility of the lost past, the vast expanse of the oceans, of life peaks toward polar regions, along continen- difficulties of assembling knowledge of parts into tal margins where cool currents well up toward the knowledge of a whole, blinders we put on ourselves surface, and where equatorial currents diverge. On by choosing not to learn or spend, and unpredictable the deep-sea margins, the Census unexpectedly dis- disturbances such as tsunamis. covered mats of bacteria and reefs of extending The Census showed that we know less about the hundreds of kilometers. small than the large and that generally knowledge is While patchy evidence from the phytoplankton inversely related to size. But some patterns exceed our near the bottom of the and more exten- field of vision, and for these the Census devised “mac- sive evidence from large animals at the top of the food roscopes,” tools to make of very large regions or chain suggest decline, whether the total weight of life datasets, to overcome limits to knowledge. in the ocean is changing remains unknown. The Census encountered an ocean growing more crowded with commerce and transparent through Legacies technology. Setting out to draw baselines of the diver- At the end of its decade, the Census bequeaths lega- sity, distribution, and abundance of species, the first cies of knowledge, technology, and work habits. Census of Marine Life documented a changing ocean, Regarding knowledge, the Census recorded its richer in diversity, more connected through distribu- findings in more than 2,600 papers, many freely acces- tion and movements, more impacted by , and sible online. The Census built the largest repository yet less explored than we had known. The Census of data about marine species by compiling observa- has multiplied the qualified experts, developed and tions and adding its own, and then made it a publicly spread technologies for discovery and monitoring, im- accessible infrastructure for future research, which proved access to data, and informed decisions about governments have committed to sustain. The Census conserving marine species and regions. The legacies of drew baselines to help nations and the international the Census—the baselines of knowledge, the cascade Convention on Biological Diversity select areas and of new technology, the collaboration across borders— strategies for greater protection of marine life. Its base- promise more benefits for humanity and the oceans.

4 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 5 SUMMARY - Image: Lianne Dunn Lianne Image: 6. 6. Polar exhibit special Near characteristics. the poles, ice reaching out from seasons defines and thus defines changes in food and of water the habitat.whereas Ocean, Arctic of the Land waters the surrounds land. Antarctic surrounds Ocean Southern the Dunn Lianne Image: 4. An array of specialized habitats exists on the deep-sea floor, floor, deep-sea the on exists habitats specialized of array An 4. standardized Census The surface. the below meters of thousands spe these among life of kinds of comparisons enable to datasets cialized habitats. habitats. cialized - Image: Lianne Dunn Lianne Image: Marine 5. 5. The Census studied many different the coastal tropics near habitats the own its from and up characteristics to unique temperate has environments at habitat Each midlatitudes. species. of suite temperature, salinity, and determine . Produc in light, 3. differences or In productivity. open “pelagic” ocean ecosystems, determine nutrients and salinity, temperature, in tivity, turn, zones. limits what kinds of depth can to creatures live there. The refer figure the of left the in pelagic to prefixes Dunn Lianne Image: A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

INTRODUCTION it answers readers’ questions about life in the global oceans from the store of knowledge about the oceans, Beginning as it did with the origins of humanity, our use especially new knowledge added to the store during the of the oceans proceeded for millennia with a knowledge fruitful decade of the Census. of ocean life only along coasts and on the surfaces where our boats dared to venture. Visits to new and deeper wa- Overcoming limits to knowledge ters regularly revealed unexpected and unfamiliar life. Calling Earth by the name Planet Ocean helps to under- Now, detailed navigational and seafloor charts and accu- stand the span of knowledge of the stretching around rate storm forecasts demonstrate growing knowledge of the globe. Humanity is a species that breathes air, which the physical ocean and marine life continues to surprise focuses our eyes and lives on Planet Earth. We might bet- us. In Australia, explorers encountered a shrimp thought ter call a globe covered 70 percent by water Planet Ocean, to have gone extinct 50 million ago. Off Africa’s as did Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author and con- Mauretanian , they found relics of cold-water cor- ceiver of the communications satellite. In fact, more than als extending over 400 kilometers in waters 500 meters 80 percent of Earth’s Southern Hemisphere is ocean, and deep in one of the world’s longest reefs. Near Chile, they 70 percent of the entire ocean is an abyss with a floor aver- found giant mats of microbes covering an area of sea- aging 4,000 meters below the sea surface and descending floor about the size of Greece or Nicaragua. to 10,924 meters at the deepest point. Apart from mi- As astonishing discoveries continue and even in- crobes living in rocks, 99 percent of Earth’s crease, the oceans grow more crowded and transparent. is in or under marine waters. At the outset of the Cen- Along shores, our cities, ports, aquaculture, and wind- sus, oceanographers estimated that only 5 percent of the mills increase. Farther offshore, our oil wells, shipping, ocean had been systematically explored for life. , cables, and soon perhaps deep-sea mining Faced with a vast unknown, the Census adopted a spread. The different uses interact, as when shipping deliberate strategy to understand the limits to knowledge. ports displace fishing harbors, and oil becomes a green- Some limits separate the known from the unknown. Ex- house gas in the that acidifies and warms the perience teaches that money, organization, work, and oceans. Meanwhile, divers and submarines as well as ro- time can often move unknowns into the province of the botic ears and eyes, some carried by animals themselves, known. As the Census steadily discovered new kinds of render even the dark, deep waters transparent for hu- life, learned where species lived and traveled, and count- mans. The crowding requires, and transparency enables, more exploration of marine life to buoy wise policies. Thus in the year 2000, the Census of Marine Life be- gan its decade-long exploration of life in the global ocean. It sought to assemble and better organize the known, shrink the unknown, and specify what will be very hard to know or even unknowable. Its strategic categories were learning the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life from microbes to . It engaged thou- of scientists from all continents on hundreds of expeditions and invested hundreds of millions of dollars. It employed divers, nets, submersible vehicles, genetic identification, sonars, electronic and acoustic tagging, listening posts, and communicating satellites. The Cen- sus spanned all oceanic realms, from coasts down slopes to the abyss, from the North Pole across tropics to the shores of Antarctica. It followed flying and col- lected cores from the seafloor. It ranged from the long past to the future. It systematically compiled information from new discoveries and historical archives and made it freely accessible. Census explorers found life wherever they looked, a riot of species. This collection of highlights tells who took the Census and lessons from their collaboration during joint explorations and efforts around the world. First,

SAMUDRI JEEVAN KA GANAN SAMUDRI JEEVAN 7. Image: Gary Cranitch

6 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 7 - - - - INTRODUCTION As the Census studied neglected archives As and the archives en Census neglected studied In considering ocean life, the causes that separate the the separate that causes the life, ocean considering In sembling knowledge of parts into knowledge of a whole, whole, a of knowledge into parts of knowledge sembling or learn to not choosing by ourselves on put we blinders tsunamis. as such disturbances unpredictable and spend, makes of a species or The of loss an archive make may some of marine microbes life yesterday’s of The unknowable. im experts rapid of and variety lack A mense unknowable. life marine today’s of some not if unknown life tomorrow’s of kinds some keep may unknowable. deep, and genetics that extract information from a single single a from information extract that genetics and deep, unknown between boundary the jump occasionally like of to we what much would Still, and unknowable. learn. to hard very remains oceans the about know and are numerous and unknowable unknown, known, of as the the but of fall invisibility into five diverse families: difficulties oceans, the of expanse vast the past, lost countered species thought to be extinct, arrayed listening listening arrayed extinct, be to thought barcod species genetic countered employed and , migrating for posts jumped and penetrated it species, new distinguish to ing new of fleet a deployed Census The knowledge. to limits quadrats nets, traditional as well as retrieve to exploration for tools devices coring and sampling, for areas frame to most powerful Perhaps mud and seafloor its residents. a macroscope Census, the of database collective the was had before that to see patterns researchers allowed that see. to large too been - - Image: Jim Toomey Jim Image: 8. The idea of learning everything that lives in the sea plus their address their plus sea the in lives that everything learning of Toomey idea Jim The 8. Cartoonist faces. people’s to smiles brings numbers Ma and of es Census a conduct themselves might animals sea the of how scale the imagined and discovery for nations, 80 opportunity the than more Fortunately, from Life. rine scientists of thousands attracted also abundance Census and distribution, diversity, the learning around rallied who future. and present, past, the in life marine of ed or weighed the species, it shrank the unknown and the it unknown shrank the species, ed or weighed the and the unknown across Beyond known. enlarged life. marine about unknowable the lies boundary a dark of Wonders the in vehicles Internet, submersible the A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

9. Census investigators explored on and beneath polar ice. Their aircraft remotely sensed animals through properties of scattered light. Marine animals themselves carried tags that stored records of their travels and dives and communicated with satellites. carried tags that revealed their migration past acoustic listening lines. Sounds that echoed back to ships portrayed schools of fish assembling, swimming, and commuting up

8 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 9 INTRODUCTION Image: E. Paul Oberlander Paul E. Image: and down. Standardized frames and structures dropped near shores and on reefs provided information for comparing diversity and abundance. abundance. and diversity comparing for information provided reefs on and shores near dropped structures and smoking frames videotaped and Standardized sniffed down. and submersibles Deep cliffs. and floors sea photographed divers study. plus closest vehicles for undersea deep, and unmanned and Manned shallow specimens, caught still dredges and nets And vents. seafloor A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

DIVERSITY

The number of different species of animals, , and fungi indicates biological diversity or biodiversity. Just as diversity is considered an attribute of security in fi- nancial investment, biologists often use biodiversity as a measure of the health of biological systems. Scientists may elaborate the simple definition of diversity as the number of species, and may calculate indices or zoom in to diversity of or out to diversity of the inhab- itants of a region. Still, species typically serve as the common currency, and the inventory of species as the capital stock of biodiversity. Species stand at the base of the sequence of taxonomic groups or taxa and make up broader groups, first and then , order, , and . The inclusive word taxa and its sin- gular number may mean any of the groups in the sequence. Hence, to accomplish a biological census and com- pile the needed inventory in its first category, diversity, the Census focused on species. A common definition of species is that of a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring of both sexes (except in the case of asexually reproducing spe- cies), and separated from other such groups with which interbreeding does not normally happen. The Census compiled tens of millions of species-level observations obtained before and outside the Census and added mil- lions of its own. It very likely discovered more than 6,000 new species and completed, for more than 1,200 of them, the formal descriptions meeting the high stan- dards of the science of systematic biology. The Census even discovered a few species thought extinct. Cen- sus data on known and new species and the locations where they were reliably observed are recorded in the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), an online, open-access, globally distributed network of systematic, ecological, and environmental informa- tion. The Census invented, constructed, and operated OBIS, demonstrating its power for mapping where spe- cies lived and traveled as well as graphing the number of described species, a number that rises toward the to- tal number of living species and thus diversity of marine life. OBIS has grown past 28 million records, spanning 120,000 species assembled from nearly 1,000 datasets. Scientists have already analyzed the OBIS data to find global patterns of marine life, while OBIS adds 5 mil- lion records per year. The Census also helped speed compilation of an un- precedented listing of all marine species ever described. The tally of the World Register of Marine Species, the authoritative and comprehensive online list of names of marine organisms, exceeds 190,000 names in early September 2010. And the Census partnered with the 10. A researcher with the Coral Reefs project dives for specimens in Encyclopedia of Life, an online reference source and the Celebes10. Image: Sea Bodil ??, 200?. Bluhm database, to offer a Web page with vetted content for

10 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 11 - - - ­ DIVERSITY 452 species species Proposed Proposed species new species Valid Authors 379 Total ~1,650 Total Average new species Average 136 97 94 84 71 59 56 55 47 Year 31 30 30 26 7 4 <1 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

microbes

sea cucumbers sea sea stars, sea urchins, sea stars, sea

whales roundworms Source: Philippe Bouchet and Benoit Fontaine. Fontaine. Benoit and Bouchet Philippe Source:

ribbon ribbon , , shrimp, barnacles shrimp, lobsters, crabs,

segmented worms segmented , , , , snails, clams, octopuses, squid, sea anemones, , corals, anemones, sea

mat or “ animals” “moss or mat

sea squirts sea

microbial microbial

umber of new marine fish species species fish marine new of umber Source: William N. Eschmeyer and colleagues, 2010. colleagues, and Eschmeyer N. William Source: fish, including including fish,

0

Crustacea Pisces Platyhelminthes Archaea and Bacteria Annelida Porifera Other Tunicata Echinodermata Nematoda Fungi Mammalia 1755 1755 1805 1855 1905 1955 2005 Total n Total periods 5-year per subspecies and Taxonomic group Taxonomic 800 600 400 200 1600 1400 1200 1000 cies cies in Pisces or the well-studied fish even group Census astonishes might that specimens collected both researchers Census researchers. de newly about worldwide data collate helped and species new be scribed marine species, including many described from specimens before collected the Census began or on not expeditions flying the flag. Census 12. An average of about 1,650 new marine species were described described were species marine new 1,650 about of average An 12. of new the numbers Although and 2006. 2002 between year each Mollusca and are Crustacea highest, an average of 156 new spe 11. People often feel that everything must already be known, as dis as known, be already must everything that feel often People 11. coveries grow and libraries accumulate. The continuing discovery of new fishspecies (and thatsubspecies)demonstrates the Age of than validated of number species The smaller is Discovery not over. needed evaluation the thorough illustrates as new species proposed authors of number rising The new. truly declared is a species before of species descriptions reflects the growing interest in marine bio diversity. to speculation that reefs alone may provide habitat for 1 for habitat provide may alone reefs that speculation to 1 species. that marine million 2 estimated to million founders its began, Census the When Expert exist. might species marine million 10 to million by knowledge examining scientists Census of judgment of species million 1 least at that taxaaffirms and region marine life likely exist, and thus at least three ------The The xpected num xpected The continuing encounters with new species make make species new with encounters continuing The Indeed, the total yearly addition to the number of to the number addition the total yearly Indeed, all of total the eventually expects that An optimist Census researchers tried Census to methods statistical researchers es every marine species. Such pages, infinitely expansible, expansible, infinitely pages, Such species. marine every of Neither species. marine 80,000 than more cover now 2000. in existed resources online these ma for Age Discovery of a single to identify difficult it rine rine life. A timeline for marine fishes, probably the peaks at sea least shows eight studied most life, of dis covery the during past 300 with years. Peaks associate system binomial Linnaeus’ as such revolutions scientific careers heroic expeditions, great classifying species, for that advances of experts, individual and cold technological and deep including exploration, for areas new open ge and biology molecular by aided Increasingly regions. of species marine new describing are taxonomists netics, Clearly year. per 150 about reaching rate a at alone fish for even life, marine for continues Discovery of Age the known of number the by measured diversity and fishes, shrinking. than rather expanding is species all marine species has since about the averaged 1,650 (452 While 2000. year the in began Census the the way, lead per year) (379 and mollusks per year) accumulat been have and sponges known ing at rates yearly of The 59 best and 30, respectively. from risen has species marine known of estimate expert 2010. in 244,000 least at to Census the in early 230,000 Over the next few years, as are old records sorted out should Register and the new described, World species the earned have that life marine of kinds 250,000 reach species. of rank accu the of extrapolation an and found, be will species list mulating of a holds species to clue what that total species and will diversity be. About 36,000 species of and waters, European well-explored the in live kinds all ma 40,000 than more that anticipate scientists Census percent. 10 of exist, an addition species European rine best the world’s are probably waters European Because of yet known, species the to proportion be discovered e In Arctic, the elsewhere. be may higher accumulating number of valid fish species in the oceans oceans the in species fish valid of number accumulating an estimated leaving in 2010, February 16,754 reached discovered. be to more 5,000 bers bers of mollusk, , and species by 40 about numbers percent. exceed the present timate timate how many forms of marine life remain to be the eventual Alas, wonderfully, or discovered. perhaps accu of curve upward The unknown. remains number taxa has most for and regions of species new mulation Austra a firm to plateau. calculate enough to bend yet lian experts judged that the known 33,000 species in of es percent to 10–20 only amount waters Australian timated total species. Finding 1,200 species of crabs, about 7 percent of the total leads known reef global coral list of single a the of meters square few a in group, A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

remain to be discovered for each already known. No firm basis exists for an estimate of the upper bound. While species are the currency of diversity for animals, plants, and fungi, for most microbes or micro- organisms we must speak of kinds or, more technically, phylotypes. Marine microbes include protists, bacteria, and archaea. Like the cells of animals and plants, the cells of protists contain a nucleus, and protists thus be- long to the eukaryotes, one of the three basic domains of life. Protists span -like and -like algae, and for most protists, we may speak of species. The other two basic domains of life, the bacteria and the archaea, together form the grouping of the pro- karyotes. Unlike cells of animals and other eukaryotes, bacterial and archaeal cells do not contain a nucleus. Microbial cells in the oceans’ num- 13. Anaerobic animals living without oxygen have been imagined by ber roughly 100 x 1 billion x 1 billion x 1 billion (10 science fiction writers but were not proved to exist on Earth until 2010. to the 29th power) and collectively weigh the equiva- In the deep Mediterranean, a Census team found and added three new species to the few known species of the group called loriciferans. lent of 240 billion African elephants, or 35 elephants Unknown until the 1980s, loriciferans can live their entire lives of marine microbes per person living on Earth. Al- hidden in sediment on the seafloor without oxygen. The Nanaloricus though they constitute up to 90 percent of all ocean cinzia grows to about 0.3 millimeter long and 0.1 millimeter wide, comparable to the of a pin. Image: Roberto Danovaro , most kinds of marine microbes remained hidden until technological marvels, especially fast ex- traction and sequencing of DNA from large numbers of specimens, revealed their diversity. Even short snip- pets of DNA can often identify kinds of microbes as well as species of animals and plants. Genetic analysis for identifying plant and animal species is customarily called barcoding because of its analogy to the scanna- ble numbers identifying merchandise in shops. The analogous exercise for microbes is referred to as phylo- typing because it relies upon sequences that tell about phylogeny or evolutionary relationships to oth- er organisms. From more than 1,200 sites worldwide, Census scientists assembled 18 million DNA sequenc- es of microbial life spanning more than 100 major 14. The foraminiferan-like called Komokiacea were unknown in the deep . Census explorers uncovered 50 spe- phyla. Revelations about the microbial world within cies there, of which 35 were unknown anywhere. The snowflake-like the single decade of the Census have multiplied esti- creature in the photograph measures a few millimeters, the size of a mates of diversity up to 100 times as many microbial flea, and its shell made of sediment grains lends the light beige color. genera as previously thought. A single liter of seawa- Image: Andrew J. Gooday ter can contain more than 38,000 kinds of bacteria; as well as numbers and quantities of biodiversity mat- a gram of , between 5,000 and 19,000. Within a ter. In the deep Mediterranean, scientists encountered particular range of body sizes studied by the Census, three new species from a little-known group called loric- 20 million or more types of microbes are likely to ex- iferans that dwell in seafloor sediment and spend their ist. Encompassing a wider span of sizes and including whole life cycle without oxygen. These loriciferans are parasites and all the microbes that live within marine the first animals known to thrive without oxygen. They animals—in the gut of a fish or jelly, for example—up may resemble life forms that thrived during Earth’s to 1 billion kinds of marine microbes may live in the early history, before oxygen came to abound in the at- oceans. Between 100 and 1,000 kinds of microbes mosphere and oceans. may exist for each larger marine species. Like European waters, the Great Barrier Reef and The continually rising number of known kinds of Ningaloo Reef off Australia are much visited. Neverthe- life reinforces the conclusion that the Age of Discov- less, when Census scientists explored the two locales, ery has not ended. Opportunities abound to discover they estimated between one-third and one-half of the marine species and kinds of marine microbes. We now hundreds of soft corals were new species. Just 22 small share some recent discoveries, beginning with a surprise of dead coral from the Central Pacific contained from the Mediterranean, illustrating that the qualities about 30 percent of the diversity of all Europe-

12 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 13 ------DIVERSITY tors tors which is not only Kiwa Kiwa hirsuta, In In the Ryukyu Trench near Japan, deep-ocean One Census investigation lowered rather than for in a compensated sense, investigators, Census such extremes, compile records of books sports, For

discouraged sampling, especially in the Southern Ocean Ocean Southern the in especially sampling, discouraged Year Polar International the During meters. 1,000 below the sampled expeditions Census however, (2007–2009), among species new likely than 700 more finding abyss, ex For sampled. they of invertebrates species not the 1,400 were Komokiacea called protists the although ample, 50 now sea, deep Ocean Southern the in live to known species. unknown were 35 which of reported, are species photosynthesiz life marine found even explorers Census ice. under light dim the in ing ever re jelly comb the deepest photographed explorers Everest Mt. of It to was the at corded. attached bottom 6,000 meters height the two-thirds about level, sea below Maine, of Gulf well-studied in the Even meters). (8,848 new numerous revealed basin in one samples a few just to the and expeditions of species, occurrences near regional seamounts and slope the as such areas less-explored species. new uncovered Gulf the to est raised in diversity, this case, affecting the diversity passes of it as shape change may animal an Because fishes. through stages of life, the young and old may be mis change, not will genes its But species. different as taken two the that can are reveal stages sequences DNA and the same the species. Previously, alien-like Mirapinni and (bignose fishes), Megalomycteridae dae (tapetails), three constituted different (whalefishes) Cetomimidae families in based on their appearance and showed, DNA by aided investigations Census behavior. that however, species assigned to those three families single one of and males, larvae, the fact in were Cetomimidae. the family, this “loss” of diversity that existed only because of a taxonomic misunderstanding by discovering new species, one of many them a and authentic photogenic new crab in an place, an inhospitable underwater hy drothermal vent. Hydrothermal plates vents, tectonic where ridges along occur some smokers, black called pulling away from each other make new . Cold down circulates seawater through cracks between two and up as heats The rock. plates hot it passes through hot carryingsolutions minerals and sulfides emanate and conditions in extreme life fuel and vents the from without . On a vent in the dis explorers Census southeast Chile, Island, Easter near Pacific covered the yeti crab, a hairy new species, but also a new yeti genus and cataloged fully a have new scientists Census Other family. in oceans lobsters squat the its known and kin among worldwide. established The Census pitch. or fastest sprint as fastest the The attracting beyond records. eye, records, estab lish the span of Census marine prospec diversity.

- - - - Kiwa Kiwa Image: Cindy Lee Van Dover Van Lee Cindy Image: Image: David Shale David Image: Given a name species for its its white, appearance, hirsute To To learn what new creatures colonize coral reefs, of course species unknown In waters, less familiar barcoding, barcoding, were found just once and over three-quar an seas; nearly half of the species, recognized by recognized DNA half an of the seas; species, nearly 16. In the inhospitable environment on a vent in the southeast Pacific Pacific southeast the in vent a on environment inhospitable the In 16. the crab, yeti discovered explorers Census Island, Easter near hirsuta. hairy look has prompted the nickname snowman, or yeti yeti. The remarkable crab for belongs to a the new species abominable too. family, and genus new and location. one just in found were species the of ters Census scientists developed Reef Autonomous Mon itoring Structures (ARMS). Built of layered ARMS plastic, resemble empty creatures When reef. natural dollhouses a of crannies” and and “nooks mimic the drifted or moved into ARMS on the French Frigate research near Shoals and of Hawaii sites, scores other ers could perform standard surveys to contributing a biodiversity. reef of picture global A also survey abound. in Ocean around the Southern Antarctica the multiplied number of Antarctic gelat inous two to three times. Expense has 15. This remarkable red , between 20 and 30 centimeters long, long, centimeters 30 and 20 between worm, red remarkable This 15. out turns Ridge Mid-Atlantic the investigating scientists by they as discovered worm, a not is it fact, In family. new completely a to belong to with common in more has that “enteropneust” an but thought, initially worms. with than A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

of vents located the deepest (5,000 me- ters), hottest (407°C), northernmost (73° N, Arctic), and southernmost (60° S, Antarctic) “black smoker” hydrother- mal vents known so far. Since the discovery of the first one in 1977, scientists have found about 1,000 hot vents and described more than 650 new species from them with no lessening of the rate of discovery. Only 15–20 percent of ocean ridges have been surveyed. Cold vents or seeps also emit minerals, , and sulfides, but are cool. Census explorers found 600 new species around seeps. Biggest also qualifies as a record and extends di- 17. This newly described microbe, a thermoacidophilic archaeon found versity. A new giant species of spiny , Panulirus in a deposit from the Eastern Lau Spreading Center in the South Pacific near Fiji, exemplifies the rare biosphere. Wherever barbarae, found off Madagascar weighs 4 kilograms Census researchers looked, they found many species in a sample rep- and its main body extends 50 centimeters. Census resented by less than one in 10,000 of all individuals, including those expeditions found frequent gigantism in Antarctic that occurred only once. Microbe image: Anna-Louise Reysenbach and waters. They collected huge scaly worms, giant crusta- colleagues, 2006. Vent image: Anna-Louise Reysenbach ceans, sea stars, and sea as big as dinner plates, testifying to longevity in cold conditions where slow growth prevails. Giant Macroptychaster sea stars grow up to 60 centimeters across. Census scientists described large, unusual that had recently been discovered around the world in waters deeper than 1,000 meters. Up to 7 meters long, these squids have large . Their long, thin arms and have a strange elbow-like bend near the body. Since their discovery, scientists have found that these squids are adults of the newly described family Magna- pinnidae, or bigfin squids. Just as the too-far or too-deep are rich in new kinds, so too are the too-tiny to see. During an 11-month 18. In waters deeper than 1,000 meters, scientists found a group of large, unusual squids up to 7 meters long and waving large, long study in 2007, scientists sequenced the genes of more fins. They constitute a new family Magnapinnidae, aptly called bigfin than 180,000 specimens from the western English squids. Image: © Research Institute Channel alone. The rare was common. One in every 25 readings yielded a new genus of bacteria (7,000 gen- antiquity, Neoglyphea neocaledonica, found on an un- era in all), quantitatively demonstrating that humans derwater peak in the Coral Sea, ranks as one of the know less about the small than about the large. Many oldest marine organisms discovered by Census scien- rare species in a sample contradict the generality of tists, followed closely by a living found in the a few species predominating. Wherever Census re- Caribbean. Pholadomya candida is the only known re- searchers looked, they found many kinds of microbes maining species of a genus of deep-water clams that in a sample represented by less than one in 10,000 of flourished worldwide for more than 100 million years all individuals, including individuals that occur only from to times (200 million to 65 once. They hypothesized that many kinds, now rare, million years ago). Thought since the 1800s to be ex- could become dominant if environmental changes fa- tinct, this was found at 3 meters depth vor them. along Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The discovery Researchers found some marine microbes are also confirmed that the lives in shallow water, everywhere, while others have limited distributions. feeds by filtering suspended material rather than by The rare make up most of the microbial diversity in trapping bottom detritus as previously thought, and the oceans. Indeed, rare is common not only for ma- provides the opportunity for genetic sequencing of an rine microbes but for many taxa and regions. ancient lineage of bivalves to learn its evolution. Rescuing marine life from the category of extinct Lifespan as well as antiquity distinguish species. stands high among the gratifying increases of diversi- In the Northeast Atlantic, Census scientists discov- ty encountered by Census scientists. They confirmed ered a new species of , Neopycnodonte zibrowii, a contemporary “shrimp” thought extinct 50 that forms reefs on deep cliff sides. Radiocarbon dat-

CENSIMENTO DELLA VITA MARINA CENSIMENTO DELLA VITA million years ago in Australian waters. As a record of ing revealed that individuals reach 100 to 500 years

14 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 15 ------DIVERSITY (left) (left) (right), the only only the (right), display regional Neoglyphea neocaledonica Neoglyphea Pholadomya candida Pholadomya While the Census firmly established the ma The Census database facilitates creation of com Census scientists also astonishinginventoried di were were most diverse in tropical areas assuch Indonesia, southeast Asia, and the Philippines. Sea surface tem perature was thehighly only predictor environmental related to diversity across all 13 taxa. reviewdented of all known marine biodiversity Anin 25 unprece confirmedregions the coastal pattern. jor jor patterns, exceptions are the rule. Some locations with temperatures near freezing had higher diversity than some locations with tropical waters. And some latitudinaltrend general the follow always taxanot do of highest diversity in tropical regions. Along rocky shores, echinoderms and gastropods spotshot rather than gradients continuous in diversi diversitypeakin (macroalgae) some while ty, along deeper, at higher latitudes. Much biomass) (and the continental margin sloping from the shelf to the abyssal plain, the diversity of bottom dwellers peaks at mid-slope between 2,000 and 3,000 meters deep. than matters depth latitude. more Here prehensive prehensive lists of known species for allmicrobes) regions, whether defined by politics, (excluding most The or set economics, geography. of studies involving 25 regions extending from Australia, China, and In dia to the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Antarctica yielded species lists ranging between about 3,000 in the Canadian Arctic and 4,000 in the Baltic to about 33,000 in species-rich regions such as Australia and Japan. The median region had about 10,000 known species. Crustaceans, mollusks, and in fishesthis most numerous array and half comprise about are the known of species diversity. versity of deep-sea species that have never experienced never have thatdeep-sea species of versity sunlight. Revealed by deep-towed cameras, open that nets smartfree-swimming autono and mous robots, an in thrive to animalsknown depths, programmed at diverse a 17,650, number eternalwatery darkness now collection of species ranging from crabs to shrimp to worms. Most have adapted to diets based on meager - - - - in relatively well Image: Max K. Hoberg K. Max Image: distinct enough to be assigned to a new new a to assigned be to enough distinct Shrimp image: Bertrand Richer de Forges and Joelle Lai. Clam image: Juan Manuel Díaz Manuel Juan image: Clam Lai. Joelle and Forges de Richer Bertrand image: Shrimp Aureophycus Aureophycus aleuticus, distinct enough still harbors unknown species. species. unknown harbors still

Aureophycus aleuticus, Aureophycus Large and conspicuous species Beyond colorful examples of diversity found and genus. This with characteristic V-shaped blades, or “leaves,” can can “leaves,” or en blades, V-shaped nearshore known characteristic well with kelp This genus. relatively the Even meters. 3 as long as grow vironment mollusks longest-lived the among them placing age, of astoundingCen longevity, known. yet more even For sus takers at cold seeps found straw-like tube worms, Escarpia laminata, a meter long at the sunless seafloor with an estimated 600 age of years. vealed a new species of Golden V kelp, large brown , the to be assigned genus. to a new refound, Census work—especially of compilation occurrence the records for marine species decade-long in OBIS—allows mapping of the levels of biodiversity in different regions of the oceans and for taxa, different and then analysis of which environments favor diversity. major Two patterns emerged from a global :diver to zooplanktontaxa from 13 of study sity in the open oceans peaked in mid-latitude or in alloceans,in coastal while species “strips” subtropical 20. Sampling near the shore of the Aleutian Islands (Alaska, USA) in USA) (Alaska, Islands Aleutian of the shore the near Sampling 20. Golden the seaweed, brown large of species new a uncovered 2008 kelp, V known shallow waters still await discovery. Sampling in the Aleutian Islands (Alaska, USA) in 2008 re 19. Species thought to be extinct have been rediscovered. For example, Census scientists found a Jurassic shrimp, shrimp, Jurassic a found scientists Census example, For rediscovered. been have extinct be to 1800s the thought during Species thought was 19. and years million 100 than more for worldwide flourished that clams deep-water of genus a of species remaining ago. long vanished have to thought to have become extinct 50 million years ago, and they also encountered a living Caribbean fossil, fossil, Caribbean living a encountered also they and ago, years million 50 extinct become have to thought A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

droppings from the sunlit layer above, but others live have the least kinship among eight major phyla, while off bacteria that break down oil, sulfur compounds, sea stars (echinoderms) and sharks (elasmobranchs) and methane, the sunken of dead whales, and make surprising neighbors. Klee diagrams also offer other unlikely foods. colorful “fingerprints” characterizing the diversity of While opening opportunities for discovery, the life in different bodies of water. For example, DNA accumulating mass of data sometimes overwhelms samples from the zooplankton of the Sargasso Sea ver- the mind’s ability to comprehend. When considering sus the make distinct Klee patterns. 10,000 species or specimens at one time, DNA again Exploring diversity in all realms of Planet Ocean, comes in handy. DNA is fundamentally digital. Each Census of Marine Life explorers newly observed mil- in a strand of DNA is a thymine, cytosine, lions of specimens. More than 1,200 of the collected adenine, or guanine and can be coded in zeros and specimens are now formally described as new species, ones, or as a colored stripe. A short “barcode” region while 5,000 more are probably new to science and distinguishes the species to which a specimen, in- awaiting description and addition to the marine cat- cluding a or or other fragment of , alog of diversity. Globally, the collective efforts of all belongs. This technique was first published in 2003; marine biologists drawing on specimens collected over the fast-growing reference library of marine species many decades are adding more than 1,600 marine with barcodes now tops 35,000 covering more than species per year. Partnering with other groups and ag- 20 phyla. gregating information, Census scientists affirmed the Statistical analysis and graphics help extract probable existence of about 250,000 named, known meaning and pattern from diversity recorded in large species and helped to make an authoritative, accessible databases. One approach that the Census applied in- list of these now approaching 200,000 and to devel- novatively converts nucleotide sequences of barcode op Web pages for more than 80,000. They sequenced regions into “indicator vectors” and then calculates DNA identifiers for more than 35,000 species that how closely these vectors resemble each other from the make possible a compact new view of the relatedness distances among them. Displays of the correlation ma- of all marine life. Capturing DNA for tens of thou- trices, dubbed Klee diagrams for their resemblance to sands of kinds of marine microbes, Census researchers the geometric paintings of Paul Klee, graph the sepa- estimated that up to a billion exist. While at least a ration of species and the intensity of relations among million kinds of life earning the rank of species are es- species. A single Klee diagram illuminates the relations timated to live in the ocean, no firm basis exists for and descent of animals of more than 5,000 species in a range or upper limit. Of all the life that survives in 8 widely separated groups. Colors and distances reveal the oceans, smaller forms appear to outnumber larger discontinuities corresponding to species- and higher- forms by 100 to 1,000 times. The oceans burgeon with level taxonomic divisions. Sponges and bony fishes discovered and undiscovered diversity.

21. Records of 11,000 marine species from tiny zooplankton to Coastal taxa sharks and whales assembled 0 in the Ocean Biogeographic In- formation System of the Census revealed hot spots of species di- versity. The diversity of coastal species such as corals and coast- al fishes tended to peak around Southeast Asia, whereas the high diversity of open-ocean creatures such as tunas and whales spread more broadly across the mid- 0.75 latitude oceans. Red indicates Oceanic taxa areas of high diversity. Horizontal 0.03 tick marks to the right of the color ramps indicating quartiles of di- versity show it takes more diversity in coastal regions to qualify for a high ranking. Source: Derek P. Tit- tensor and colleagues, 2010

0.87 MIPANGO YA VIFAA BAHARINI VIFAA YA MIPANGO

16 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 17 - - - - DIVERSITY B B Clione Clione 8 8 Hymenaster pel Hymenaster sp.), ( snail sp.), 7 7 and sea star ( star sea and Ceriantharia 6 6 Ambereye shrimp Arctic shrimp sea star Ambereye A A B 5 5 8 4 4 7 * glacialis), Hymenodora 6 3 3 A 5 Barcodes: Mark Stoeckle. Images: Cheryl Clarke-Hopcroft, Clarke-Hopcroft, Cheryl Images: Stoeckle. Mark Barcodes: 2 2 shrimp ( shrimp 4 * 3 Porifera Cnidaria Mollusca Annelida Brachiopoda Bryozoa Arthropoda Echinodermata Elasmobranchii illustrate the analogy between a sequence of genetic units in the the in units genetic of sequence a between analogy the illustrate 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. A. Protostomia B. Deuterostomia 2 1 1 1 - Porifera/Cnidaria 2 - Mollusca 3 - Annelida 4 - Brachiopoda/Chaetognatha/Bryozoa 5 - Arthropoda 6 - Echinodermata 7 - Elasmonbranchii 8 - Actinopterygii/Sarcopterygii - Protostomia A B - Deuterostomia 1 1 - Porifera/Cnidaria 2 - Mollusca 3 - Annelida 4 - Brachiopoda/Chaetognatha/Bryozoa 5 - Arthropoda 6 - Echinodermata 7 - Elasmonbranchii 8 - Actinopterygii/Sarcopterygii - Protostomia A B - Deuterostomia Tube anemone Pelagic snail anemone Pelagic Tube 23. Genetic sequences from anemone ( anemone from sequences Genetic 23. limacina), cells of a specimen and the barcodes on items for sale in a supermarket. supermarket. a in sale for items on lucidus) barcodes the and specimen a of cells —cytosine four the of one represents colors four the of com Each (black)—that guanine and (red), thymine (green), adenine (blue), signal bars colored the between assign lines the gray The enable sequences. DNA barcodes pose species. a among to scale, differences or The fin a as differences. such genetic fragment a even specimen, a of ment identical or almost identical have will of species the same Specimens barcodes. Iken Katrin and Bluhm, Bodil Hopcroft, Russ Image: Dirk Steinke Dirk Image:

2% Bryozoa “moss animals”) (mat or 1% Tunicata sea squirts)(including (fish, including sharks)(fish, Protists 10% ) (unicellular algae and plant-like 10% organisms 7% Annelida (segmented worms) 5% Cnidaria jellyfish) and corals, anemones, sea (including 3% Platyhelminthes flatworms) (including 3% Echinodermata (sea stars, sea urchins,cucumbers) sea 3% Porifera sponges) (including 19% Crustacea 19% lobsters, shrimp, crabs, (including and barnacles) Mollusca 17% squid,(including octopuses, snails, clams, and slugs) Pisces 12% Species indicator vectors indicator Species 24. Klee diagrams, named for their analogy to the paintings of Paul Klee, display the genetic separation of species and the intensity of relations relations of intensity the and species of separation genetic the display taxonomic Klee, to Paul of corresponding paintings the species, to of analogy groups their within for named Klee affinities box. a reflect diagrams, form Klee that diagonal 24. the lines on of yellow) group a or (red becomes fishes, correlation as high such of Blocks 10 species, from species. related species among closely marine of 5,000 group a for and line, a correlations depicts contributes map color species The Each divisions. biodiversity. of structure correla The genetic the fishes. in of taxa patterns broad lobe-finned and illuminate ray-finned, diagrams cartilaginous, respectively are Sarcopterygii and Actinopterygii, Elasmobranchii, life. phyla. marine of categories of picture coherent a into coalesce tions 22. A census of 25 key oceanic regions rests on information col- lected during past centuries plus descriptions of thousands of new into fall species the of Most Census. decade-long the during species a dozen groups, including many crustaceans and mollusks, fewer of percent 2 scarce The vertebrates. other percent 2 only and fishes, species that are well-known vertebrates such as whales, seals, and compared with the 98 percent of other creatures in the Census reflects the great diversity of marine life hidden among the mea- for baseline a set species of lists regional The creatures. other cause. suring changes that humanity and will Images: Russ Hopcroft, Gary Cranitch, Julian Finn, Larry Madin, John Huisman, Katrin Iken, Bernard Picton, and Piotr Kuklinski A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Great White , Carcharodon carcharias.

25. Image: Bodil Bluhm

18 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 19 - - - strate. maps its nar its maps in a book that Gadus morhua, Gadus for example, promptly displays its wide range. Long before a species becomes extinct, circumstanc extinct, becomes a species before Long sloani, cod, Atlantic the Entering range. rower es may eliminate it from one of its habitats, an event that that event an habitats, its of one from it eliminate may es will, of course, will Distribution reveal. its distribution been has if a baseline only change or elimination reveal ex taxonomic 140 of the Mexico, Gulf For established. perts and from associated 15 80 countries institutions baseline the established Census the with has been converted into a digital database (www.nbii. gov/portal/server.pt/community/gulf_of_mexico_biodi of to The ask data how anyone many allow sections different versity/1950). in live unit taxonomic each sub of what in species and depth, what at Mexico, of Gulf the - - - whose distribution is shown here in dark red, can be considered the Everyman Everyman the considered be can red, dark in here shown is distribution whose Chauliodus Chauliodus produces a map of its range, restricted to the North Atlantic and nearby Arctic waters. Arctic nearby and Atlantic North the to restricted range, its of map a produces Chauliodus sloani, Chauliodus Gadus morhua, Gadus The The millions of OBIS records assembled during Source: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Image: Encyclopedia of Life of Encyclopedia Image: System. Information Biogeographic Ocean Source: 27. Specifying the Atlantic cod, cod, Atlantic the Specifying 27. of the deep ocean. Census data show the fish has been recorded in more than one-quarter of the world’s marine waters. waters. marine world’s the of one-quarter than more in recorded been has fish the show data Census ocean. deep the of Life of Encyclopedia Image: System. Information Biogeographic Ocean Source: 26. Entering the URL www.iobis.org accesses the tens of millions of what/where/when records assembled in the global marine life database database life marine global the in assembled records what/where/when of millions of tens the accesses www.iobis.org URL the Entering 26. viperfish, manylight the fish, Among OBIS. als. Distribution displays where a where is displays species born, eats, als. Distribution kind its meets it where shows Congregation breeds. and envi the trace travel and migration of Routes mates. and or a living, out ekes prospers, a species where ronments iden species a of maps distribution The survives. merely it. starve or stress, nourish, will that habitats the tify the Census decade quickly display where species have been reported. Visiting www.iobis.org and entering the name of a species calls forth a global map of its Specifying distribution. either viperfish or Beyond the kinds or species of life, a census must show show must a census life, of species or kinds the Beyond of and individu travels, the addresses the distribution, DISTRIBUTION A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig spilled oil onto the coast, margin, and great depths in the north-northeast octant of the Gulf of Mexico. Decades of survey integrated in the new database set a baseline of 8,332 species in all depths of that octant. Includ- ing only major taxonomic units or taxa of animals at all depths in the region of the spill, there are 1,461 mollusks, 604 poly- chaetes, 1,503 crustaceans, 1,270 fishes, 4 sea turtles, 218 , and 29 marine species. Although many species remain to be discovered in the Gulf, the database provides a baseline as of 2009 for assessing the effects of such events as the oil spill and the recovery following its cleanup. The baseline establishes the ref- erence for future measurements. Where marine animals travel, as well as where they live, affects their suc- 28. A map of marine life establishes a baseline for evaluating the outcome of an oil spill cess. Their travels set records. , in the Gulf of Mexico. One hundred and forty taxonomic experts from 80 institutions and 15 countries associated with the Harte Research Institute, a Census affiliate, established Istiophorus albicans and Istiophorus platyp- the baseline of known species in the Gulf of Mexico in 2009 and made it available online terus, swim fast sprints at 110 kilometers shortly thereafter. The data answer graphically how many species of each taxonomic per hour. Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thun- group live in different sections of the Gulf of Mexico, at what depth, and on what sub- strate. The new database sets a baseline of 8,332 species in the north-northeast sector of nus thynnus, migrate east to west and the Gulf, where the Deepwater Horizon rig tragedy occurred in 2010. west to east across the North Atlantic Image: Harte Research Institute about 6,000 kilometers between Europe and North America, and Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis, make multiple crossings of the Pacific. Equally impres- sive as marathon swimmers, humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, complete annual north–south migrations of more than 8,000 kilometers. Circumnavigat- ing the entire Pacific, a small , sooty shear­water, Puffinus griseus, makes a 64,000-kilometer round trip from New Zealand to Japan to Alaska to Chile and back to the Southern Ocean. This trip, averaging about 40 kilometers per hour, marked the longest-ever electronically re- corded migration. The trials of anadromous fishes as they ascend rivers from the sea for breed- ing and of their young as they migrate to the sea before returning to their na- tive river exemplify the hazards of travel. Adults going upstream and the young passing down must surmount rapids and 29. The continental-scale acoustic curtains arrayed by the Census tracked migrations of fish ladders, and then, escape predators 18 species, including Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, thousands of kilometers along the Pacific coast of North America and in rivers, too. The red spots on and find food in the ocean. For decades, the map indicate the curtains through which animals swim, signal their passage, and give scientists attached small tags to fish, hop- clues where and how they survive in the oceans. The orange line shows migration of the ing someone would return them. Some salmon the size of a banana spanning 2,500 kilometers in three months. The acoustic curtains also revealed an unexpected, long migration of the threatened green , tags were returned, many were lost, and Acipenser medirostris, along the continental shelf from U.S. to Canadian waters. A sur-

RECENSAMANTUL VIETII MARINE none could tell where a fish had traveled. prising group swam north for the winter. Image: Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project

20 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 21 ------pro tion tion DISTRIBUTION Acipenser Acipenser is to note note to is tential tential Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Oncorhynchus nerka, Oncorhynchus the receiver array revealed annual migration migration annual array revealed the receiver more than 9 million detections from more than more from detections 9 than million more exer The species. 18 all of animals tagged 16,000 tags and sonic miniature that demonstrated cise the follow could them for listening the curtains public database from the network now contains now from contains the database network public the salmon a as such animals, small even of travels ifornia ifornia to Alaska, year-round. The searchable and sockeye salmon, salmon, sockeye and size of a banana, over long distances and through through and distances long over a of banana, size The The Census arrayed curtains of acoustic receiv tagged fish more than 3,000 kilometers from Cal from kilometers than 3,000 fish more tagged dissimilar waters. Among the many tracked, two ju two tracked, many the Among waters. dissimilar

Where and why animals die in the oceans is one of of one is oceans the in die animals why and Where For species less familiar than salmon, Pacific just life marine in the Tracking a open ocean requires ers on the to track 18 species of acoustically of acoustically species 18 to track ers on seabed the venile venile Chinook salmon,

survived a 2,500-kilometer trip survived a that took 2,500-kilometer more than Now acoustics, electronics, Now and acoustics, electronics, satellites have shifted to of of some what was un the provinces unknowable known. even and known three months—from three the months—from Rocky Mountain headwaters and Ocean north to River Columbia the Pacific of the Columbia British Canada’s of shelf continental the cy along life about learned research The Alaska. of coast the to of view of point the from behavior and movement, cles, salmon young of mortality the how showed during and fish the encounter they habitats the among apportioned is life. early their the for a master questions and census, chal especially A survey distances. long for that those migrate lenging of one about only that suggests salmon juvenile 3,500 of between their while in ocean, the to month its first six survives return and years two survive will 1/100 and 1/25 the ear way to consider Another to river . native ly steelhead, survival of marine migrating mykiss, tracked fish of group a of travel of week per survival that 80 and percent 40 about between ranged Census the by percent. knowledge. expands travel they when and where knowing In the case green sturgeon, of the threatened medirostris, wa to from U.S. Canadian shelf the along continental the for north swam sturgeon of group es A surprising ters. allowed sturgeon tagged of detection Frequent winter. percent. 83 of survival annual an timating and rivers through them tracking than method for different suitable shelves continental shallow and narrow along must now Satellites devices. listening of curtains present The from afar. sensors with the animal’s temper communicate water measure to tags devised researchers Census a animal tagged around salinity and depth, light, ature, temperature. body and pulse its to tags sense other and chlorophyll, estimated tags on sensors pressure and Light and po abundance and thus phytoplankton ductivity of other life. The light sensors allow calcula allow sensors light The life. other of ductivity

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o S

Crabeater A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

of longitude and latitude from the hour of sunrise and 28 Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, some weigh- sunset. So-called biologging now brings together be- ing up to 300 kilograms. The spawning stock for these havior, physiology, and oceanography to show how bluefin has dropped 90 percent in 30 years. Most of the an animal uses its environment. The animals show us tagged tuna swam near the Florida Straits and in the their blue highways and why the highways follow the western Gulf where the continental shelf is steep and routes they do. surface temperatures are 24 to 27 degrees Celsius. To record a tuna’s location, depth, and body tem- Combining satellite tagging, passive acoustic mon- perature as well as the temperature and light in breeding itoring, and genetics, Census trackers found that white waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Census scientists tagged sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, follow a regular migra- tory cycle in the eastern Pacific. The sharks migrated from coastal California to a meeting place the Cen- USA sus dubbed the White Shark Café. Visiting the café between Baja California and Hawaii and traveling back, they demonstrated their homing instincts. Af- ter journeys of more than 200 days extending to 5,000 kilometers offshore, each shark would return to its pre- cise California address in water about 30 meters deep. Satellite tracking of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys Cuba coriacea, in the eastern Pacific during 2004–2007 re- corded 12,095 days of travel. During the past two Mexico decades, collection of and catching turtles while fishing for other targets has depleted many populations of these turtles by 90 percent. Census tracking located 32. Conservation requires knowledge of areas and nurseries. their habitat and migration routes. Combined ocean- Spawning Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), Thunnus thynnus, swim along the ography and tracking defined the turtles’ migration slopes in the western and eastern Gulf of Mexico. Red and blue colors corridor from Costa Rica, across the equator, and into on the map indicate high and low probabilities of encountering a blue- fin when fishing with longlines in the Gulf of Mexico during 2002 and the South Pacific Gyre, a vast region with little food. 2005. A long line caught no tuna at the X’s on the map. The narrow band Consequently, fisheries were closed during the migra- of 24° to 27° Celsius where most tuna swam prompts the speculation that tion, a beginning for conserving the turtles. Further, a small change in temperature would change the timing and location of spawning. Source: Steven L. H. Teo and Barbara A. Block, 2010 Census scientists located habitats of leather- back turtles between nesting periods, when they are endangered by fisheries near the shore and by devel- opment on the shoreline. The nearby marine Caletas Wildlife Refuge and improved zoning within the Cos- ta Rican are now protecting leatherbacks during this critical phase in their life cycle. The Great Turtle Race Web site created by the Census enabled people to follow the migration of individual turtles and encouraged them to support measures to conserve the animals. Improved statistical methods pinpointed the loca- tions of tagged animals so closely that other tools could identify behaviors of the animals as they experience their environment. The tools helped show, for example, that male and female grey seals use shelf regions of the north- 33. By their travels west Atlantic differently and feed on predictable shallow traced in yellow, east- banks that are restaurants for numerous species. ern Pacific white sharks, Carcharodon carchar- The sum of tagging and tracking data for a region ias, showed regular paints an eye-opening picture of neighborhoods and migrations and in- seaways. While an ocean may look uniform and opaque tense fidelity to their from an airplane window, underneath the dark blue homes. Scientists tag- ged them in the triangles, and their satellite tags later popped up in the surface species of tuna and turtles, seals and whales, red circles on the central California shelf. One shark swam to Hawaii, sharks and squid are each using specific habitats and two circled in the White Shark Café halfway to Hawaii. Genetic analy- connecting east and west, north and south, shallow and sis shows that distinct populations persistently return to the same network of coastal places after oceanic migrations. deep. Evidence from the North Pacific and from the

CENSUS VAN HET LEVEN IN ZEE CENSUS VAN Source: Salvador Jorgensen and colleagues, 2010 Southern Ocean around Antarctica suggests that every

22 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 23

Volume backscattering strength (Sv) DISTRIBUTION 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Humpback Fin whale whale Sooty shearwater Northern fur seal Northern elephant seal sharkThresher tuna Yellowfin tuna Albacore Blue shark White shark shark Mako Loggerhead turtle Mola mola bluefin tuna Pacific Leatherback turtle Salmon shark Laysan Black-footed albatross Humboldt squid - - commuting between between commuting Time between Borneo and Mexico. Travel Mexico. and Borneo between Thunnus orientalis, Thunnus SV Lander 1 28 June 2004 June 28 1 Lander SV Dermochelys coriacea, Dermochelys Source: Tagging of Pacific Predators. Image: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Ltd. Publishing Blackwell Image: Predators. Pacific of Tagging Source: 1200 1200 1424 1648 1912 2136 0000 0224 0448 0712 0

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

(m) Depth ing animals connect all the oceans. oceans. the all connect animals ing hoods of the vast Pacific. Census biologgers followed bluefin tuna, tuna, bluefin followed biologgers Census Pacific. vast the of hoods turtles, leatherback and California and Japan 34. Reports from birds, fish, whales, and other animals carrying small tags reveal highways and neighbor and highways reveal tags small carrying animals other and whales, fish, birds, from Reports 34. 35. At dusk in June above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists encountered a rush hour when animals rise to the surface to feed, as if returning home home returning if as feed, to surface the to rise animals presence when the hour rush a reflected sounder encountered echo an right, scientists the on Ridge, hours 0800 show Mid-Atlantic about to the colors by night above the shown June in echoes through Eiffel dusk the At left the 35. of the hours, on top 0500 to noon to from 2100 bottom hours from from the night the distance Throughout the During exceeds meters. supper. 800 for meters and 400 400 of about winter. depths of in between commute disappears animals vertical many of almost daily and green This in autumn surface. the during to up shrinks even hour, commute rush upward the upward the summer, project the during Mid-Atlantic Northern Spectacular the of Tower. Ecosystems the of Processes and Patterns Image: A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

36. Image: Daniel Costa

neighborhood receives visitors from far away. And every but then surface at night to feed. For fishes and inverte- species of tagged animal went to unexpected places and brates, these vertical migrations create a dawn and dusk did unexpected things, such as white sharks visiting their “rush hour,” where predators and prey commute to and café or Humboldt squid eating salmon. from their preferred deep locations. Some move up from In the three-dimensional ocean, living things trav- 500- to 1,000-meter daytime depths, rising higher than el- el vertically as well as horizontally across maps. Since the evators carry humans in the tallest skyscrapers. 1960s, cameras on animals have logged where they swim Using new types of echo sounders that could sense or dive. In the Census, tags attached to northern elephant events fully to the deep ocean floor as well as sonars that seals, Mirounga angustirostris, followed their routine dives looked upward in deep water, the Census observed a sum- down to 600 meters and occasional ones to 1,550 me- mer rush hour when animals rise to the surface to feed as ters. Species that breathe air at the surface often dive if returning home to supper. The echo sounder moored to dine. Seals and whales dive from the surface down 1,000 meters below the water near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge hundreds or even thousands of meters to find prey with recorded fishes and rising about 400 meters at whistling and sonar. approximately 2100 hours to the zone where sunlight and Fishes as well as crustaceans and other invertebrates photosynthesis had produced food. About 0600 hours, hide in the dark deep where predators cannot see them, they descended to twilit water below.

24 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 25 ------DISTRIBUTION Image: Mark J. Costello More More than 100,000 seamounts, undersea moun Deep or shallow, changes in ocean temperatures, Up, down, and sideways in the connected water cold-water corals, and methane seeps. For most habitats, habitats, most For seeps. methane and corals, cold-water the global area is unknown or roughly estimated. On carefully been have that areas floor, deep-sea global the sampled are no larger than a few football fields. Nev and species about information with available ertheless, of recently have researchers context, environmental the and deep-sea the water deep for a fered new geography floor. Divided into four depth ranges, it describes 30 the seafloor, 38 and for in column the water provinces vents. hydrothermal for provinces 10 as well as tains that do not all seamounts not Because floor. deep-sea the rise interrupt high enough to be are the islands, same, Census scientists set forth an objective unex previously found The investigators classification. dominated areas example, for habitats, plored by brittlestars, that already bore trawl marks and lost compli discovery, scientific first their upon gear fishing classes. to seamounts assign to attempts the cating currents, and chemistry a in predict decline marine di life. Census researchers would redistribute an and warmer, becomes that much ocean tropical a in versity increase of diversity at latitudes of about 50 to 70 de hemispheres. both in grees of Planet Ocean, marine life travels in search of food and its own passports and encountering kind, without Some predators. and chemicals, temperature, changing swim, some drift, some stay buried in the opaque, mud or longer No at normal. is Extreme rock. a to tached the ocean increasingly reveals its traffic patterns and neighborhoods. ------Such classifications tend to represent the near-sur to tend represent classifications Such Of course, swirling eddies, large and small, A different question about distribution that has Finally, “biogeography” summarizes the distribu ters deep and tens of kilometers in diameter. Large waves traveling deep within the ocean also shape the distribution of life. While a layer rich in life between 300 and 800 meters deep had been known since the lay deeper other, of evidence added Census the 1950s, 2,300 and downers, meters in 1,500 the Atlantic. intrigued biologists for decades is whether some an imals thrive in both polar regions. While we that polar bears know only theinhabit Arctic and bipolar about theAntarctic, wondered have biologists mollusks, crustaceans, and fishes. Census bothinthan research300recorded species more identified ers Arctic and Antarctic regions. re DNA tests, however, vealed considerable differences, and species truly those if any, are bipolar. that few, showed tion of life, marine or terrestrial. Census researchers compared the distributions of 65,000 species of ma rine animals, plants, and protists to the produce first all-taxa map of global marine species diversity. These analyses distinguished worldwide. 30 biogeographic regions face, which is richer in observations, better than the deep sea. Since the middle of the century nineteenth of edge the from habitats 27 discovered have biologists the continental shelf to the deep trenches, including of reefs falls, whale as habitats discovered recently such combine horizontal and vertical motion. In the mid- with communities found Atlantic,Censusresearchers scores of species structured by eddies a thousand me 37. Spanning microscopic plant-like organisms to whales, the Census produced the first all-taxon maps of global marine species using the using species marine global of maps all-taxon first the produced Census the whales, to organisms plant-like microscopic Spanning 37. distributions of more than 65,000 species from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Thirty marine summarize the distri- a region with a distinctive fauna and flora. butions of many species, each representing A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

38. Image: François Sarano

26 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 27 ------Image: Image: Ente Nazionale gral part of life in the nineteenth part of gral in life the nineteenth century. Turismo il per Italiano from mosaic A 40. Carthaginian dis the century end of the fourth plays the range of nets, spears, rods, and tridents for catch ing fish during the Roman era. of ago, people years Thousands and shore the near life sea caught wide re near across the surface Mediterranean. the as such gions Com’era” mare “Il Image: 39. 39. In along villages the Italian an inte still was lobstering coast, Since written records began accumulating in archives archives in accumulating began records written Since abundance great, yet not were removals where Even her cod, of catch Baltic fluctuating the era, later a In Recreational fishing also provides valuable observa valuable also provides fishing Recreational nineteenth centuries, the conch populations recovered recovered the populations conch centuries, nineteenth 1980s. early the in depletion second a face to example an provided five and to libraries ago, have six fish stories centuries “so (1450–1498) were Cabot John coast saved. Canadian been the along fish that wrote he when backs.” their on bay the across walk could you numerous removals mi salmon though spearing Americans of wrote native Others Even waters. coastal from upriver grating remained. animals large some substantial, were fluctuated. The herring caught in Denmark between to clue changing owing a quantitative provide and 1800 probably 1600 five, of factor a by fluctuating abundance, cli Variable climate. and in in weather variations to populations mostly salmon changed have to appears also mate ago. long North High Russian the ring, and sprat during the twentieth century provides data data provides century twentieth the during obser sprat and ring, accompanying With change. of causes for dissect to predatory and water, in the nutrients climate, of records vations historical analyze can some scientists mammals, Without marine populations. changing the of causes the for fluctuations, former these of causes the of understanding pertur human and natural following changes forecasting uncertain. and difficult be will bations tions. Recreational fishers often seek large “trophy” fish “trophy” large seek often fishers Recreational tions. abun greater of times and for take when photographs they nostalgic catch them. famously While are fishermen true. appears nostalgia their dance, ------now a threatened species in in species threatened a now Strombus gigas, Strombus For a head start to detection of future trends, Census Census trends, future of detection to start head a For mol collected ancestors our prehistory, since Indeed, ing abundance sends a warning long before the tragedy the tragedy before long a warning sends ing abundance the or abundance weighing Counting of its of extinction. dimensions three the in life drifting and swimming of Census the confronted ocean global interconnected the with histor Nevertheless to with overcome. difficulties of food, production of primary calculation Cen archives, ical the fish, of schools vast scan to technology new and and unknown between the boundary sus penetrate the did of province the into jumped occasionally and known unknowable. formerly with un products from the present backward on reached taxes historians and tales, fish Mediterra , the of as records such earthed regions, some In life. of sea from amounts made consequential removed catch already began humans people nean, shows History ago. years 2,000 life sea more were extractions their and ago, long life marine ing than species of range a broader affected and widespread thought. once by Amerindi intense depletion suggest the Caribbean, to the the sixteenth From 1492. before an exploitation After naming the kinds of marine life and charting their their charting and life marine of kinds the naming abundance. After their weigh or count must census a locations, declin and health, a species’ indicates abundance Rising ABUNDANCE lusks for their meat and shells. The Census documented documented Census The shells. and meat their for lusks Eu Africa, Americas, in the middens, or deposits, shell rope, Japan, and Papua New Guinea. Studies of the conch, queen A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

41 and 42. While recreational fishing removes much less sea life than commercial fishing, recreational fishers do sample marine life, especially large animals. In 1958, after an excursion on a Key West, Florida (USA) charter boat, a family of recreational fishers displayed their trophies, especially large groupers, subfamily Epinephelinae. In 2007, the size of the fish displayed by the same charter enterprise had plummeted, and the mix of species had changed. Images: Monroe County Library (left) and Loren McClenachan and colleagues, 2009 Off the North American coast after the mid-1800s, on average. Historically, overfishing and habitat destruc- commercial fishers caught swordfish, Xiphias gladius, in tion lead the ranking of threats to marine life caused by numbers varying by a factor of ten. The fish population human activities. Since reaching their low point, four and the effort expended in fishing raised or lowered the groups of species have recovered somewhat. Whales and numbers. On the other hand, the average weight of the seals recovered about a fifth. Because the available data fish, caught by either harpoons or lines, declined from as are mostly about highly valued, commercially important much as 270 kilograms in 1860 to near or less than 100 species, these estimates represent large, exploited species kilograms during the decade of the Census. in particular rather than all marine animals. For these To alleviate the historical amnesia of focusing only valuable animals, the data confirm the feared declines but on trends in the recent 20 to 50 years, Census scien- also offer a few instances of hopeful recovery. tists mined data sources from palaeontological and Extractions of target species sometimes cause fast archaeological evidence to molecular markers, histor- changes, as the trawl off Southeast Australia be- ical records, and fisheries statistics. They established tween 1914 and 1950 demonstrated. First tiger flathead historical baselines for 10 groups of large marine ani- (Neoplatycephalus richardsoni) plummeted from early, high mals to compare with recent abundance. At their low catch-rates, and then Ocean leatherjacket (Nelusetta point, the 10 groups had declined by nearly 90 percent ayraudi) and latchet (Pterygotrigla polyommata), species

Swordfish harpooned Percent decline from historical baseline off North America with images 50 60 70 80 90 100 scaled to average weight travel between fresh Diadromous fish 24 and salt water live on or near Groundfish 57 the bottom

Reef fish 14 1860 Sharks 41

animals that live in the Large pelagics 32 open ocean those that live below Deep-sea fish 9 1880 1,800 meters fin-footed mammals , , fish-eating mammals 10 Number of records herbivorous mammals sirenians Whales 42 1930 Sea turtles 7

Coastal birds 43. From 1860 to the present, the aver- live along the shoreline 10 age weight of swordfish, Xiphias gladius, caught off the North American coast by 44. Dark-shaded bars indicate that the estimated declines in populations of large marine ani- either harpoons or lines declined from as mals from their historical levels average about 90 percent. Nevertheless, some recovery (shown much as 270 to near or less than 100 kilo- by light-shaded bars) has been achieved by four groups, including seals, whales, birds, and grams. A big drop occurred from 1860 to such bottom-dwelling fish species as flounder and sole. These estimates for exploited species in 1930. Source: Karen Alexander, Brian R. particular, rather than all marine animals, confirm the feared declines and offer a few hopeful

CENSO DE LA VIDA MARINA MacKenzie, and William Leavensworth instances of recovery. Source: Heike K. Lotze and , 2009

28 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 29 ------30 ABUNDANCE 20 10 Distance east from sound source (km) source Distance sound east from Instantaneous billion herring image of 1/4 If a form of sea life disappears from a menu, has it a menu, from disappears life sea of If a form and cal sightings, from catches, inferences Beyond The new technology works best along the continen the along best works technology new The

sole. For example, on San Francisco menus, which started started which menus, Francisco San on example, For sole. prices 1920s, in the abalone slow-growing the feature to declined coast the California along stocks when spiked ar 10,000 Finding 1950s. the in again and 1930s the in chived menus that showed date and city expanded the and date city expanded that showed menus chived known. the of province strug researchers Census oceans? the from A disappeared extinction. global or regional - of ab “false question of the with role gled the evaluate to is problem statistical basic local in the was present a species where is, that sences,” from that surveys in but not found recent community, certainty makes oceans the of vastness The spend that community. animals large for except hard extinction about developed Census The surface. the near or at time of lots compare to and absences false for qual adjust to largely a methods in new prepared species marine of lists historical surveys. quantitative modern from data with way itative of these Application methods during the next decade ex of marine assessment accurate more provide should species many shows information existing Now, tinctions. . few proves but rare becoming culation, Census scientists observed the of Census scientists abundance culation, system a sensor new deployed They directly. life marine as small as well shoals, or populations, fish vast track to of kilometers of square tens of over thousands schools, by sensed are shoals The shelf. continental the along sound sea harmless bouncing by objects locates which far sonar, travel waves sonar low-frequency The them. off waves far signals informative with observations over return ranges and ther sonar new The sonar. earlier pre than could intense than less wider times million a ocean of expanse an studied. be viously tal shelf, so the researchers focused on the shelf waters waters on the shelf focused so Bank the tal researchers shelf, Georges over and York, New Island, Long of south were they started, first they When Maine. of Gulf the in 10 (km) source 20

------Distance south from sound sound from south Distance off the the off maintaining a school formation as large as Manhattan island, sometimes as densely as eight fish fish eight as densely as sometimes island, Manhattan as large as formation school a maintaining Thunnus thynnus, Thunnus Clupea harengus, Clupea Image: Nicholas Makris and Purnima Ratilal Ratilal Purnima and Makris Nicholas Image: Area of experimental of surveyArea For the valuable and long-lived tuna, historians of tuna, historians and For the long-lived valuable After World War I, more boats, and know-how, Cen sea up from to the chain restaurants, Farther abundant in the initial years of the fishery, virtually disap virtually fishery, the of years initial the in abundant 45. Census scientists deployed a new acoustic system to track vast fish populations over tens of thousands of square kilometers of sea along the the along sea of kilometers square of thousands of tens over populations fish vast track to system acoustic new a of tens maps deployed sonar new the scientists begins, Maine of Census Gulf 45. the where Bank Georges along monitoring continuous from snapshot a In shelf. continental herring, Atlantic of millions per square meter. meter. square per whose species for recoveries In contrast, marked years. in later most be catches are from that peared Increases species and slow. ago be years to 100 tend least at century. ended mid-twentieth exploitation to early the in protected came to 1900 from catches of boom the examined Census the popu once-abundant of collapse the preceded that 1950 tuna, bluefin Atlantic of lations fish records, sales off Dusting Europe. northern of coast found researchers the sources, other and ery yearbooks, waters in teemed European northern bluefins majestic for a until an few each summer months industrialized fishery geared up in the Generations 1920s and filled them. literally the with halls market European of floors by waters in arrived the northern bluefins ago Atlantic fish the mid-1800s, During in June. late the thousands these ermen tuna welcomed as partners who I, pursued War World Before shore. to close set nets into garfish sight coastal even and captured, rarely were bluefins up the washed tuna 2.7-meter One events. exciting were ings 1903. in shore German a on lifts net hydraulic and rifles harpoon as such equipment virtual from catches annual increase fishermen helped 1949. by tuna of tons 5,500 almost to 1910 in nothing ly Nor a built In tuna Denmark 1949, cannery. In 1929, way had 43 boats tuna pursuing and soon 200 boats. bluefin strip the Atlantic helped catches species The booming The 1950. to time—1910 of blink a in population 1960s early the in region the from disappeared virtually today. rare still is and sus scientists found another index of marine abundance. abundance. marine of index another found scientists sus menus, from prices inflation-adjusted of years 150 Over of supplies as such Boston, cities and most from New American York, tastes shifting revealed and Francisco, haddock, San halibut, and , abalone, swordfish, lobster, A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

not looking for fish at all—they wanted to see if their device could locate ancient riverbeds under the ocean floor. But when their reconnaissance images did not match the river- beds, the researchers went back, and determined that they were seeing fish—tens of millions of them. The new sonar images, updated every minute, continuously monitor the size and density of the millions in the shoals and also the shape of the shoals as they change from hour to hour. With sonar, the Census scientists saw an abrupt dai- ly queuing of tens of millions of Atlantic herring rising from the seafloor. Beginning from small clusters, tens of millions of fish queued across tens of kilometers along the northern flank of Georges Bank in tens of minutes. The rapidity, synchronicity, and regularity with which these long queues of spawning fish assembled showed the pres- 46. Small life can form large structures. Off Chile, filamentous bacteria sure on individuals, first to join, and then to conform with of the genus Thioploca wove mats covering an area the size of the na- large groups. Beginning with a density of less than one tion of Greece. Census scientists estimated the mats to weigh about 14 million tons, about one-seventh of the weight of the annual world harvest fish per square meter, they became as crowded as eight per of commercial fisheries.Image: Victor A. Gallardo and Carola Espinoza square meter. Also exemplifying high abundance, microbial fil- aments form mats covering an underwater territory of Local-scale trends in phytoplankton nearly 130,000 square kilometers, about the size of Greece, on an oxygen-starved seafloor off the central and northern coasts of both Chile and Peru. They are among Earth’s largest living structures. The massive, diverse microbial community thriving mostly on methane-associated hydro- gen sulfide probably represents a living fossil of the era 2.5 billion to 650 million years ago, before and during the transition to an oxygenated atmo- sphere. At mid-depths of the ocean where the mats spread, Chlorophyll rate of change (mg m-3 yr-1) little oxygen mixes down from the surface or up from the cold, oxygenated water that sinks at the poles and ooz- 47. Since 1899, phytoplankton chlorophyll measured first by ships and recently by satellites, too, declined in 59 percent of the 364 map es like poured cream along the seafloor to other regions. cells with sufficient observations for a determination. It increased in With so little oxygen, most multicelled life cannot survive. the yellow and red cells and declined in the blue. The cells bordered But microbes, such as the large multicellular filamentous in black experienced statistically significant changes, while white cells ones making up the gigantic mats, can successfully thrive. had insufficient data.Source: Daniel G. Boyce and colleagues, 2010 The largest filaments are about half the width of a human Estimated seafloor biomass hair and, unlike most bacteria, are visible to the naked eye. Census explorers found the long bacteria in sulfide seeps at the Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador, and off the Pacific coasts of Panama and Costa Rica, and speculate that these microbial mats in oxygen-poor layers in the ocean may run from southern Chile to Colombia. Some things are unknown or unknowable because they are too small to see, others because they are too big to see. Globally, on the deep-sea floor, the Census showed the ubiquitous high abundance of small sea creatures resembling worms (, ) and bugs () as well as localities with high biomass along 48. Census scientists used nearly 200 studies to estimate the biomass on margins and ridges where methane and sulfur-charged the seafloor globally from bacteria through fish and other large animals. The yellow-to-red zones in the map show seafloor biomass reaching 3 to geothermal fluids stream from the seafloor. 10 grams of per square meter, or 30 to 100 kilograms per hect- While changes in abundance of particular taxa have are, along several temperate and frigid shores. Carbon typically makes been obvious since humans first collected shells along about half of living biomass. This level of carbon accumulation is small the shore, the question of whether global changes are compared with the tons accumulated per hectare of land in a forest or even a crop of maize, but still considerable when added over the vast occurring in all the life that constitutes a oceans. In general, the tropical seafloor is poor in biomass while the temper-

ÅIREAMH NA BEATHA MHARA ÅIREAMH NA BEATHA has remained controversial. Most attention has gone to ate and polar seafloors are rich.Source: Chih-Lin Wei and Gilbert T. Rowe

30 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 31 ------ABUNDANCE Census Census scientists es dance of life at the bottom bottom the at life of dance of the the ocean, biomass de usually on seafloor, the pro food primary on pends duction by photosynthesis in the sunlit water above floor the to settling its and of fall The snow. marine as de largely particles organic how termines many thou a on live organisms of sands and seafloor of meter square biomass. their of weight the timated timated seafloor biomass from , the fall of the of organic parti topography and cles, seafloor. Primary produc tion concentrates around land where plant nutri ents reach the sea. The map of total seafloor bio about consists which mass half of carbon, shows its biomass reaching 3 to 10 square per carbon of grams meter or 30 to 100 kilo grams per hectare, along frig and temperate several - With about a quarter of a million known species and and species known million a of quarter a about With sity or distribution. In contrast to diversity, which tends tends which to diversity, In contrast or distribution. sity ap abundance waters, warmer and temperate in peak to life, Much Ev waters. cooler and discovered. be temperate to in peak to pears continues mats, commerce microbial human the as entering such species most that shows idence the whether unknown remains It spe sharply. often important decline, commercially thousand few the in declines all marine of biomass total global the twentieth changed have cies patchy a suggests study global initial an phytoplank but the life, oceans, the of grass the in decline century the at abundance declining see to seem we Overall, ton. fishing with chain, the food the of bottom the temperatures near and top ocean and destruction, habitat abun the practices, measuring Systematically causes. powerful most next and the species known for 250,000 task a as approximately of the dance remains well as microbes of kinds the spe of undiscovered the abundance Estimating decade. task. the to glory and mystery adds cies id shores. In turn, calculations can translate the seafloor seafloor the translate can calculations turn, In shores. id in of individuals in and of populations estimates into biomass invertebrates and fishes as such animals of groups equal bacteria seafloor populous the weight, By bacteria. life. marine seafloor larger of sum the times ten about measuring oceans, vast the in everywhere distributed life diver measuring than difficult more finally is abundance - - ­- ­ - - - - Source: Chih-Lin Wei and Gilbert T. Rowe T. Gilbert and Wei Chih-Lin Source: ) -2 equal 0 or 1) elsewhere. elsewhere. 1) or 0 equal 10 biomass (mg C m C (mg biomass 10 equal 2 or 3) in the tropics and near continents, whereas fish only reach densities of 1 in the tropics tropics the in 1 of densities reach only fish whereas continents, near and tropics the in 3) or 2 equal As noted earlier, up to 90 percent of all the weight of of weight the all of percent 90 to up earlier, noted As of history the as well as measurement and Calculation 10 Log ible animals such as fish. Bacteria reach densities of 100 to 1,000 milligrams of carbon per square meter meter square per carbon of milligrams 1,000 to 100 of densities reach Bacteria fish. as such animals ible (log 49. A map of the estimated seafloor biomass of bacteria and other kinds of life grouped by size (the small small (the size by grouped life of kinds other and bacteria of biomass seafloor estimated and the of centimeters, map 3 A to 49. up macrofauna intermediate the sieve, 0.3-millimeter a through pass that meiofauna and both showsfishes) thatinvertebrates thedespitethe encompassing microscopic larger megafauna vis clearly hence and larger of mass the than greater far mass their make numbers their bacteria, of size and 10 (log 10 and lations, which shrank and now are rebounding. Census Census rebounding. are now and shrank which lations, of end the chain. the food other examined researchers Is the or productivity of biomass the of meadows the lev trophic that upper feed the oceans, phytoplankton Census involving study An global initial els, changing? ocean from observations indirect used who researchers significant but patchy a suggests 1899 since vessels going decline. phytoplankton global Census by “Pyro is microbial. mud pioneered seafloor and in oceans the life technique DNA the sequencing,” tag archaea, bacteria, of diversity the ascertain to researchers and protists, also about captures information relative drew Census diagrams abundance. microbiologists re of The abundance relative the to show locations. skylines of city sembling hundreds for microbes of kinds different of intermediate some a tall buildings, few show ” skylines “long the form that structures low many and biosphere. rare height, the constitutes that distribution abun the of estimate to used be can caught and deplet some sighted of life recovery marine the and extinction as well as dance such of that exception the With Chile off mats intervention. after giant ed species the in bacteria the as things abun living the food, synthesizing of means alternative an have changes in top predators, such as whale and seal popu seal and as whale such in predators, top changes A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

LEGACIES

The Census imparted urgency to its explorations by setting for itself a life of 10 years, enough time to organize and build to a crescendo in 2010. Much of the worth of such a brief life

lies beyond its decade in legacies that go on.

Broadly, three sorts of legacies can already be discerned.

a d R a u n s Knowledge resting on sound research and recorded with s a i a C

moderation and caution by Census scientists will inform

the future. The technology that they invented, improved,

d

n

la and spread will power future discovery. And to the extent

n

e

e

r

G

that they succeed, they demonstrated work habits—organi-

zation and working together—that can make research in

future decades more efficient and effective.

Regarding knowledge, the Census published its results

in more than 2,600 scientific papers. Some, the compilation

and organization of the known, reveal regional and even

global patterns, past and present, and show how marine

life fares in different environments and eras. Other papers 50. The global marine life database built by the Census exposes gaps in record new species and many species in new places. They re- our knowledge of the known and unknown. The color spectrum from red cord the travels of marine life and its abundance. to blue ranges from many to few records. Blank areas have no records of reliably indentified marine life. Explorers have yet to explore much of Publicly reported in scientific papers, Census research the high Arctic Ocean for life. Source: Ocean Biogeographic Informa- informs and propels new discovery. Publication of its se- tion System (OBIS) ries of reports in the Public Library of Science and other open-access sites will prove a special legacy because anyone of a way to chart the closeness or separation among species with a computer can read them on the Internet, for free, by correlating their lengthy DNA sequences. now and in the future. As a physically tangible legacy, the Census bequeaths to With existing data plus its own, the Census built future generations curtains of microphones that can identi- OBIS, the largest archive of data about marine species. In a fy individuals migrating along thousands of kilometers of crescendo of results at the end of the decade, Census scien- routes from California past British Columbia in Canada to tists proved the power of the globe-encompassing archive Alaska. It demonstrates that fish only 20 centimeters long to reveal patterns of diversity, distribution, and abun- can carry sonic tags to trace their passage through the cur- dance. Governments have committed to sustain OBIS. By tains. Larger animals can carry biologgers that record the opening OBIS to the public and arranging its continuity temperature, depth, and other environmental properties as and integration with the Encyclopedia of Life and other el- they swim and dive and then report the data via satellite. ements of the “e-Biosphere,” the Census created a legacy of The Census helped devise and leaves the legacy of a infrastructure for future research. sonic system that detects the formation, abundance, and co- Without reference baselines for today’s state of marine ordinated swimming of schools of fish extending over tens life, claims of change due to warmer water and damages of thousands of square kilometers. The Census helped mo- from fishing and oil spills can only fuel contention. Simi- tivate nations to build research vessels so quiet they would larly, claims of benefits from protection of areas and from not disturb animals or interfere with listening and so stable regulation of drilling and fishing require proof that the that DNA sequencers could operate aboard. baseline of the present state provides. Selections of marine To standardize the global assessment of life on coral reefs protected areas by nations and the international Conven- and render worldwide analysis of distributions and measure- tion on Biological Diversity need baselines. To all these ment of change, the Census innovated Autonomous Reef interests, the Census wills a legacy of baselines of marine Monitoring Structures. In the same vein, the Census leaves diversity, distribution, and abundance at the beginning of a legacy of standardized methods for appraising marine life the twenty-first century. near shores and in the deep sea. Taken together, the tech- Technology of an earlier Age of Discovery, such as ships nologies invented and proven by the Census show that the that could span oceans to another hemisphere, continued incipient Global Ocean Observing System, analogous to the as legacies to later centuries. Similarly, the Census grants a system long in operation to monitor the atmosphere, can legacy of barcoding and similar genetic methods for distin- observe life as well as physical parameters. guishing species by their DNA sequences, some species too Work habits, many good ones, honed during the Cen- small to see with the naked eye and some cloaked in similar sus decade will live on and make future global explorations shapes or confused by changing shapes. Going beyond see- effective. The habit of assembling scientists; choosing a goal

BANCIAN KEHIDUPAN MARIN BANCIAN KEHIDUPAN ing that specimens are different, the Census adds the legacy like diversity, distribution, and abundance; recruiting more

32 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 33 - - - LEGACIES data both from Census partners and and partners Census from both data

3 km 6 3.5 x 10 c. 51. OBIS exposes the still-to-be-explored ocean by ocean as depth well as 51. the OBIS still-to-be-explored exposes The records. On no the a of or and oceans, the section longitude. cross global few latitude to many from extends blue to red from the while spectrum waters, shallow in and shores near concentrated are records unexplored. largely is waters, middle vast the Earth, on habitat largest System Information Biogeographic Ocean Source: perts, developed and spread technologies for discovery and and discovery for technologies spread and developed perts, deci informed and to data, access improved monitoring, The and regions. species marine conserving about sions the of knowledge, of baselines the legacies Census—the oceans. bor across the and the collaboration humanity of new technology, cascade for benefits more ders—promise more impacted by humans, and yet less explored than we we than explored less yet and humans, by impacted more ex qualified the multiplied has Census The known. had ------with data from Census expeditions where there were no prior data. The records attributable attributable records The data. prior no were there where expeditions Census from data with

Source: Ocean Biogeographic Information System Information Biogeographic Ocean Source: indicates regions indicates

expeditions. Red expeditions.

As it worked, the Census sought to establish the hab the establish to sought Census the worked, it As The macroscope of OBIS lets everyone see with rev with see everyone lets OBIS of macroscope The The Census encountered an The ocean Census encountered growing more to and supplemented by the Census are numerous in the Southern Ocean, North Pacific, and along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Wide regions, such as such regions, Wide Ridge. Mid-Atlantic the along and Pacific, North Ocean, Southern the in numerous are Census the by supplemented and to unexplored. largely remain Pacific, Eastern the from the Census’s own Census’s the from 52. A global map of the nearly 30 million OBIS records of 120,000 species from more than 800 datasets shows the known and unknown ocean ocean unknown and known the shows datasets 800 than more partner from from and species began 120,000 Census of the records before from with OBIS data million regions 30 aggregated has nearly indicates the Census of the map Yellow areas, global A blue In 52. nodes. longitude. thematic and and latitude by regional squares OBIS by half-degree in assembled often institutions, and programs scientists or training new ones; keeping focus on their initial initial their on focus keeping ones; new a within training see—all or to all for scientists results their of recording and networks target; social The na work. 80 future than for more legacy a and decade—is oceans and taxa all span who experts tions form a legacy that could speed a second Census and and Census second a speed could that value. legacy may a form tions societies that programs research other its to identify, systematically, the limits to knowledge and and knowledge to limits the as systematically, unknowable identify, to its and unknown the about candidly speak to that quantified Census The know. we what about as well ex that patterns generally some showed and But small the about less size. know we to related inversely is devised knowledge Census the these for and vision, of field our ceed knowledge. to limits overcome to macroscopes olutionary resolution both the known and the unknown unknown the and known the both resolution olutionary life marine observed scientists where can see We ocean. other and Census the how and began Census the before View map. in the filled decade globe past the the during of research surface the on observations of density the ing Ocean, Southern Pacific, Eastern the in areas explora vast for shows virgin almost remain the from example, oceans for the Arctic, of and slice a Viewing life. marine ex for poorly tion the to explorers beckons seafloor the to surface mid-waters. plored tech through and transparent with commerce crowded of Census first the Setting out nology. to species, of draw of baselines diver the abundance in diversity, and richer ocean, distribution, changing a movements, and documented Life Marine distribution through connected more sity, HIGHLIGHTSA DECADE OF DISCOVERY CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE

32

34 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 35 ------To encompass Planet Ocean and engage specialized specialized engage and Ocean Planet encompass To de the of half first the in rapidly grew Participation Fourteen field projects investigated the major hab the major investigated projects field Fourteen Two other projects and OBIS completed the roster of of roster the completed OBIS and projects other Two HOW THE CENSUS WORKED CENSUS THE HOW and the 1990s during Agreeing work? the Census did How comprehensive a set to done than said was and more scenes that striking the under science of foundation solid around scientists seas, the beneath glimpses fascinating of Marine Census the first-ever for organized the globe by establish earnestness their They demonstrated Life. in beginning Census, the for life decadal a definite, ing concentrat They 2010. in concluding and 2000 year the kinds), different many (how diversity the learning on ed distribution (where they live), and life. abundance marine of (how much) engaged Census the waters, diverse its about knowledge laboratories, 670 than more from scientists marine 2,700 natural history universities, and museums, aquariums from more than pre 80 and Three nations all meetings continents. planning of dozens and discussion of years flying a flag. During Census expedition the first ceded the the at coordinated decade, Census Secretariat the Consortium D.C., Washington, in Leadership Ocean for meetings, implementation 66 network, international the recognized Census The meetings. Census-wide five and possible, Where place. to place from capacities They differing researchers. and funding, ships, provided countries access opened they and resources, intellectual their gave seas. their to cade and continued to grow in the second half. During During half. second the in grow to continued and cade days 9,000 at sea ex in than more 540 oceanographic temperate, cold, explored researchers Census shore. to peditions, shore and bottom to top from seas, tropical and of the Committee kept Steering leaders The Scientific diversity, on and span global on Census the of focus the abundance. and distribution, itats and groups of species in the global ocean to paint to ocean paint in the global of species groups and itats projects these of Eleven life. marine present of picture a and such as vents, coral habitats, seamounts, explored as such and the Arctic regions, Or explored they reefs. of Gulf the or Ridge, Mid-Atlantic the oceans, Southern top the as such animals, surveyed projects Three Maine. plankton small or Ocean Planet swim that tuna predator globe. the around drift that microbes and baseline a reconstructed project first The monastery projects. logs, ship Census old example, for from, oceans past of Complementing middens. shell and bones, fish records, modeled project cli and another of the past, fishing as the reconstruction such variables of effects the projected or in life oceans. marine future to anticipate change mate described has been repository, data the collective OBIS, Commit Implementation Regional and National above. world the around regions in 13 leadership provided tees resources. and expertise to access extended and Stimpert K. Alison Image: 53. 53. A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Census of Marine Life global community Census global Project National or regional Participating Participating coordination headquarters headquarters institution country

54. Shading shows the global span of 80 plus nations that participated in the Census of Marine Life. The 2,700 scientists participating came from more than 600 institutions and worked in 14 field projects spanning ocean realms from near shore to abyss and latitudes from poles to tropics. The global span of National and Regional Implementation Committees, headquarters of the field projects, and participating institutions such as museums ensured access to expertise and seas. Image: Census of Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team

Census of Marine Life project areas

55. Census field projects sampled all major zones and realms of the oceans. Image: Census of Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team SENSO NG BUHAY SA DAGAT SENSO NG BUHAY

36 HOW THE CENSUS WORKED

The Census of Marine Life Community

Projects

Arctic Ocean Scientific ArcOD National and Regional Antarctic Ocean Steering CAML Implementation Mid-Ocean Ridges Committees Committee MAR-ECO Ian Poiner, Chair, Australia Vents and Seeps Arabian Sea: Michel Claereboudt, Oman ChEss Victor Ariel Gallardo, Australia: Nic Bax Abyssal Plains Vice Chair, Chile CeDAMar Canada: Philippe Archambault Myriam Sibuet, Seamounts Caribbean: Patricia Miloslavich, Venezuela CenSeam Vice Chair, France China: Song Sun

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP Continental Margins J. Frederick Grassle, COMARGE Europe: Isabel Sousa Pinto, Portugal

Past Chair, USA GLOBAL PARTICIPATION Continental Shelves Henn Ojaveer, Estonia Vera Alexander, USA POST Indian Ocean: Mohideen Wafar, India D. James Baker, USA Near Shore NaGISA Indonesia: Gabriel Wagey Patricio Bernal, France/Chile Coral Reefs Japan: Katsunori Fujikura D. Chandramohan, India CReefs Republic of Korea: Youn-Ho Lee David Farmer, USA/Canada Regional Ecosystems GoMA South America: Diego Rodriguez, Argentina Serge Garcia, Italy Microbes Sub-Saharan Africa: Charles Griffiths, Carlo Heip, ICoMM South Africa Netherlands/Belgium Zooplankton CMarZ United States of America: Andrew Rosenberg Poul Holm, Ireland/Denmark Top Predators Yoshihisa Shirayama, Japan TOPP Michael Sinclair, Canada Oceans Past HMAP Song Sun, China Oceans Future Meryl Williams, FMAP Australia/Malaysia Global Marine Life Database Synthesis Group Past Committee Members OBIS Donald Boesch, USA Paul Snelgrove, Chair, Canada Olav Rune Godø, Norway Affiliated Jesse Ausubel, USA Andrew Solow, USA Projects & Darlene Trew Crist, USA Collaborators Michele DuRand, Canada/ USA J. Frederick Grassle, USA Partners Marine Barcode of Life Patrick Halpin, USA Encyclopedia of Life Ocean Tracking Network National Geographic Great Barrier Reef Sara Hickox, USA Galatée Films Seabed Biodiversity Project Patricia Miloslavich, Venezuela

Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity Project Ron O’Dor, USA/Canada SYNTHESIZING RESULTS World Register of Marine Species Myriam Sibuet, France MarBEF • HERMES Edward Vanden Berghe, Belgium • PLoS ONE Boris Worm, Germany Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Kristen Yarincik, USA Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Technology Panel CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE

GLOBAL COORDINATION Secretariat, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, USA Education and Outreach, University of Rhode Island, Office of Marine Programs, USA Mapping and Visualization, Duke University, Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, USA

56. Image: Census of Marine Life Education and Outreach Team

37 A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Projects affiliated with the Census of Marine Life

The Census extended its reach by affiliation with other The Census also benefited from the formation in 2004 of projects and programs. It formed a partnership with the the Consortium for the Barcode of Life. The Consortium National Geographic Society to expand cartographic and the international Barcode of Life initiative aim to of- resources and outreach. The Census Mapping and Visu- fer a reference library of DNA barcodes for more than alization Team boosted the creativity and quality of work 500,000 species by the year 2015. The efforts to speed throughout the program and served as the liaison with Na- barcodes of marine species operate within the subpro- tional Geographic’s cartographers and also with Google grams Marine Barcode of Life Initiative (MarBOL) and Earth, whose ocean layer integrates Census findings. Fish Barcode of Life Initiative (FISHBOL), both headquar- tered at Ontario’s University of Guelph. The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is documenting on the Inter- net all 1.9 million known living species of animals, plants, Affiliated projects and programs added depth and scope and fungi. Its infinitely expandable page for each species to Census work in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Gulf includes text and also images, graphics, video, and sound. of Mexico, the margins of European seas (HERMES, see It is compiled from existing databases and from contribu- below), ecosystem functioning (MarBEF), fisheries sci- tions throughout the world. Partnering with EOL, Census ence (, PICES, and FAO), seas beyond national scientists helped create Web pages for 80,000 species, jurisdiction (IUCN), and global change (IGBP/DIVERSI- which comprise about a third of known marine species. TAS). Cooperation with the Partnership for Observation These species in turn come from the master list of anoth- of the Global Oceans (POGO), the Scientific Commit- er Census partner, the World Register of Marine Species, tee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Technology Panel, formed in 2006 to provide in perpetuity an authoritative Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. A Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), partnership with Aquamaps allows quick creation of stan- and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) helped dardized distribution maps for species of fishes, marine integrate the Census with the development of ocean ob- mammals, and invertebrates in OBIS. serving systems.

HERMES: Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas MarBEF: Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning, European Union Network of Excellence ICES: International Council for the Exploration of the Sea PICES: North Pacific Marine Science Organization FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature IGBP-DIVERSITAS: International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Initiative for Biodiversity

During the final four years of the Census, a Synthesis free, open-access Internet publication, which took off Group continually integrated results and prepared for during the latter years of the program. An increasing the culminating events of the Decade of Discovery. The number of Census papers are appearing in the biodiver- Synthesis Group worked closely with a Mapping and sity hub of the Public Library of Science, which has also Visualization Team that provided advice and solved established flexible, growing collections of papers for problems for all Census teams and projects. many Census projects and themes. Census scientists tagged 41 species of animals. The Five books added to the reports. At the end of the 23,000 animals carrying instruments might be added Census decade in 2010, one book gave the public an to the 2,700 humans who participated in the Census. overview of insights from the Census, their implications, Between 2000 and 2010, by an accounting that and a glimpse of marine life still unknown. incorporates national expenditures on existing fleets, • Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life: Making Ocean labs, and staff that collaborated as well as activities that Life Count, Paul V.R. Snelgrove, Cambridge University occurred only because of the existence of the Census, Press, 2010. the program spent US$650 million. Support came from A second book summarized the findings and discov- scores of government agencies as well as private founda- eries of the 17 Census projects for scientists with a chapter tions, companies, and individuals. From conception, from each project. the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation of New York City pro- • Life in the World’s Oceans: Diversity, Distribution, and vided indispensable core support totaling about US$75 Abundance, Edited by Alasdair D. McIntyre, Blackwell million. Publishing, Ltd., 2010. For its expenditure on the Census, the world received A third, extensively illustrated book profiled Census re- a stream of knowledge throughout the decade. Census search and findings through early 2009 to a public audience. scientists reported progress in more than 2,600 scientific •World Ocean Census, Darlene Trew Crist, Gail Scow- peer-reviewed publications. The Census strongly favored croft, and James M. Harding, Jr., Firefly Books, UWA

DAANÁIREAMH NA MARA Publishing, 2009.

38 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 39 - - - - HOW THE CENSUS WORKED THE CENSUS HOW 59 . Spikes sites, video and still photographs, museum exhibits, and exhibits, museum stake and photographs, still and video audiences sites, of range a for including tailored artists, to products early other out reached Census The holders. photographers, painters, cinematographers, sculptors, in the Cen to participate them to invite musicians and life of marine the own observations their share sus and designat at project Census based Every team a encountered. and Census the liaison, outreach and education an ed network. the coordinated Island Rhode of popu University the for responsibility took also team highlights Island and Rhode The 2003 in knowledge initial of summaries lar 2008. and 2006, 2005, 2004, in - Cen- Web Web

Image: Megan Moews Megan Image: the

from

Creatures

Image: Nathalie Roland Roland Nathalie Image: Image: Anne Berg Edvardsen Edvardsen Berg Anne Image: Peter Boyle, Bergen Museum Museum Bergen Boyle, Peter

Wondrous

Nancy Knowlton, National Geo- National Knowlton, Nancy Sea: Atlantic,

Life,

the

Mid

of

the

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of

Citizens Life These and other books formed part of the Census part of the Census formed books other and These A fourth book presented portraits of about a hun about of portraits presented book A fourth sus A fifth book portrayed a major expedition examining 2010. examining graphic, expedition major a portrayed book fifth A Press, 2009. Press, . 57 58 education and outreach effort, which also included included also which effort, outreach and education

57. Research along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge inspired Norwegian Anne Berg Edvardsen’s sculpture sculpture Edvardsen’s Berg Anne Norwegian inspired Ridge Mid-Atlantic the along Research 57. lift to trying animal an suggests sculpture the centimeters, 40 by 40 about and clay and paper of Made direction. change to maybe itself, 58. The Census inspired the public to examine marine life, too. too. life, marine examine to public the inspired Census The 58. 59. As marine creatures helped the Census by measuring their environment with electronic tags, so too did did too so tags, electronic hirsuta with Kiwa hairy environment the of their measuring by incongruity Census The the helped public. the of creatures marine As 59. interest the catch including Census magic, its the help capture to color many and form prompted and their appeal broad has crab yeti nickname its suggested that ride. wild a of search in skateboarders dred species. species. dred •

Atlantic North the of middle the in environment and life sea. the of floor the to surface the from •

A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

60. In a notably fruitful collaboration, the Census lent support to Galatée Film Productions to pho- tograph the film Oceans at 54 locations, globally distributed. Census scientists helped conceive the film and ensure its scientific accuracy, and co-authored with Galatée an illustrated guide with taxonomic information about all the species in the film. In return, Galatée provided still images and more than 400 hours of film for Census researchers to study animal behavior in situ. Image: François Sarano CENSO DA VIDA MARINHA

40 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 41 HOW THE CENSUS WORKED THE CENSUS HOW A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

61. Image: Gary Cranitch

42 NRICs CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 43 - - - - extended the extended along a ridge that connected them ensured exploration exploration ensured them connected that a ridge along ridges, on vents the explored Others pole. to pole from the abyssal plains and between ridges and continents, that the seamounts interrupt explored plains. Projects shores near water also the and margins continental the tidal spanned Maine of Gulf the in project A reefs. and the touched even and margins the and shelf, the pools, the examined Other ubiq projects seamounts. nearest uitous microbes, drifting plankton, and swimming top and swimming plankton, drifting microbes, uitous delved the One that oceans. project connect predators into the history of marine life, and projected another expanding and past all made system A global future. its uni life marine of circumstances and addresses, names, change. measuring for baseline a as available versally ------National National and Commit Regional Implementation 62. 62. National and Regional Imple mentation Committees of Committees the mentation Census nearby about expertise their applied known of call roll a compile to waters species, unknown estimated species, and ranked threats to The diversity. numbers of species, the currency of diversity, ranged up to 33,000 in Australian and undiscovered waters, familiar Japanese in Even waters. species and microbes will swell the number. future Image: Census of Marine Life Map Team Visualization and ping tion, and abundance, the Census had a the It Census had big job. and abundance, tion, to down slopes coasts from to realms, all span oceanic to the shores tropics across Pole the from North abyss, im of It Antarctica. and had to giant animals encompass and individuals rare life, invisible almost and hidden the to past long the from range to had It schools. mense discov new from information to compile had It future. accessible. freely it make and archives historical and eries To inventory life in Planet Ocean, its diversity, distribu diversity, its Ocean, Planet in life inventory To THE CENSUS TEAMS CENSUS THE tees tees began the Census strategy of the encompassing in projects Field world. Arctic and seas Antarctic and reach of the Census of Marine Life globally. Over 360 scientists combined cen combined scientists Committees 360 Implementation Over and Regional National globally. Life Marine of Census the roll of a into reach databases and observations Census new with information turies-old temperate through were Antarctic the from species regions named representative in known, of species all call of fifth a About Arctic. the to The seas call. roll the tropical of and half up make fishes, and mollusks with collabo which, how showed crustaceans, integration taxonomic and geographical discovery. unprecedented expedites countries developing and developed between ration A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Arctic Ocean Diversity project established the baseline of marine life in the region. Its search on, in, and under sea ice, in deep basins, and along continental shelves cataloged more than 7,000 animal species, of which at least 70 are new, plus thousands of microbes. Project researchers documented recent northward extensions of ranges of and fish species, and a rising ratio of warm- to cold-water species. Making more than 250,000 records accessible online, the project allows measuring changes in Arctic life caused by humanity and natural forces.

Project Leaders Bodil Bluhm United States Rolf Gradinger United States Russ Hopcroft United States

63 64 ArcOD

66

65

63. Ian MacDonald, 64. Katrin Iken, 65. Rolf Gradinger, 66. Katrin Iken

67. Deep in the frigid Canada Basin, a remotely operated vehicle of the Arctic Ocean project captured the pictured jellyfish of the genusCrossota . Image: Kevin Raskoff

44 CAML CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 45 THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS - - Polarstern V V

/

project provided the baseline for the baseline provided project 69 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Research Atmospheric and Water of Institute National Philippe Koubbi Philippe 70 tacean encountered during an expedition of R the an expedition during encountered tacean 71. 71. In Southern at the of Island region the the the near front Elephant Polar investigating scientists Peninsula, Antarctic crus the of small tip The amphipod. lysianassoid pictured the found Ocean genus. new a and species new a both to belongs likely most d’Acoz d’Udekem Cédric Image: 68. Australian Antarctic © Commonwealth of Australia Australia of Commonwealth © Division Antarctic Australian 68. 69. Zealand New 70. Australia Australia Census of Census Marine Antarctic Life 68 Victoria Wadley Wadley Victoria Project Leaders Leaders Project StoddartMichael of its change. The project documented more than 16,500 taxa, including hun the monitoring including establish helped then and Ocean the in Southern taxa, life marine 16,500 than more documented project The change. its of of seafloor region a single identified The researchers of species. new dreds water deeper from colonists found planet, the on current fastest the under life incubate may waters Antarctic how showed and shelves, ice melting beneath species. new Coordinating 18 research voyages in voyages research 18 the survey widest-ever of Coordinating the region, the 71 A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Patterns and Processes of the Ecosystems of the Northern Mid-Atlantic project explored marine life along the world’s longest mountain range, which rises from the seafloor 4,500 meters deep. The explorers found approximately 1,000 species, from small crustaceans to whales, including at least 30 new species. They found both mid-water animals from deep basins and bottom-living animals along slopes. Abundance generally peaked where cool and warm waters met. Project findings supported protection of areas of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge against harmful bottom fishing totaling 330,000 square kilometers, larger than Italy.

Project Leader 72 Odd Aksel Bergstad Norway

73

74 MAR-ECO

75

.

76 77 72. Nicola King 73 . David Shale 74. Thomas de Lange Wenneck 75. The deep-sea octopod, syrtensis was photographed in 2004 during the G.O. Sars expedition. It measures 13 cm x 8 cm, about the size of a grapefruit. Image: David Shale 76. Klokkargaardens Film AB 77. Thomas de Lange Wenneck 78. David Shale

MANNTALL OVER MARINT DYRELIV MANNTALL 78

46 ChEss CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 47 THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS - and named and it named the after hirsuta hirsuta

Kiwa /Alexis Fifis /Alexis

Craig Smith Craig Bremen of University MARUM, Fujita Daichi Bremen of University MARUM, Warren Anders 79 Pacific- the in vent a from water sulfurous and hot the In 84. of vents explorers in Pacific, the Ridge South Antarctic and found seeps 79. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. goddess of shellfish in Polynesian mythology. Because its its Because mythology. Polynesian in shellfish it of snowman, goddess abominable the suggests appearance hairy crab.” “yeti the as known become has Ifremer Image: 83 84 82 Spain United States United United United United Kingdom United Biogeography Biogeography of Deep-Water Ecosystems Chemosynthetic 80 Maria Baker Baker Maria Eva Ramirez-Llodra Ramirez-Llodra Eva Project Leaders Leaders Project Tyler Paul bots, the project extended the known limits to such life—farther north (72° N) (72° north life—farther to such limits known the 1,000 extended than project the more bots, to 407°C. than hotter bringing and meters 4,900 species, than S), deeper (60° new south 200 farther and about energy. described sun’s scientists the without Project live to known species described of number the The The life abundant hot, cool, Here, fluids where and falls, whale life. vents, at life seeps, explored marine project nourish oils natural in rich or acidic ro corrosively advanced Using sunlight. than rather reactions by chemical fueled thrives, Chris German German Chris 81 A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Census of the Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life project explored the abyssal plains of major ocean basins, particularly the southern Atlantic and the Southern Ocean, described more than 500 new abyssal species from uni- cellular animals to large squid, investigated the feeding of abyssal organisms, and mapped the distribution of deep-sea life. The project compiled data for establishing protected seafloor outside national jurisdiction and documented that climate change, human debris, and seabed mining affect abyssal life.

Project Leaders 85 Pedro Martinez Arbizu Germany Craig Smith United States

86 87

90 CeDAMar

88

85. Myriam Schueller 86. Wiebke Broekeland 87– 88. Brigitte Ebbe 89. Wiebke Broekeland 90. The tiny Ceratonotus steiningeri, about three or four times as long as a hair is wide, was found in the Angola Basin. Image: Jan Michels

89 ZENSUS DES MARINEN LEBENS

48 CenSeam CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 49 THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS - - proj 97 96 95 93 92 - - 98 New Zealand New Global Census of Marine Life on Seamounts Life of Marine Census Global Image: National Institute of of Institute National Image: New Zealand New Zealand New United States United

NIWA Global Census of Marine Life Life Marine of Census Global

Peter Marriott Marriott Peter –95.

91 Project Leaders Leaders Project Clark Malcolm ect encompassed up to 68,000 seamounts rising 1,000 meters or more from from more or meters 1,000 rising communities and seamounts 68,000 to up species, encompassed ect seamounts, new discovered project The con adjacent on seafloor. the those resemble broadly inhabitants seamount that found and life animals, of deep growth slow and to isolation owing Yet, slopes. tinental The as such fishing. disturbances from to recover can struggle on seamounts international informing is data seamount of global repository central project’s seas. high the in areas protecting about negotiations Karen Stocks Stocks Karen 91. The variety that to seamounts can its also bio contribute topography ocean contribute to bris orange bright a photograph, the In diversity. ingid sea star is prominent among corals on a seamount. The sea star is feeding by raising its arms to food passing capture from the Antarctic Current. Circumpolar New (NIWA), Research Atmospheric and Water Zealand. 92. 93 96–98. Seamounts on The sphere of the the of sphere The Mireille Consalvey Consalvey Mireille Ashley Rowden Rowden Ashley 94 A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Continental Margin Ecosystems on a Worldwide Scale project explored slopes of all continents during more than 60 expeditions. They found a meager snow of detritus sustained ribbons of life in the mud along slopes and that the greatest diversity occurs at mid-slope. The project found deep-sea coral stretching over 400 kilometers long off Mauretania. Elsewhere, vast mats of microbes lived off seafloor methane. The project documented the sensitivity of continental slopes to global changes and to exploitation of deposits of gas and petroleum.

Project Leaders 99 Myriam Sibuet France Robert Carney United States Lenaick Menot France

100

101 COMARGE 102 103 104

99. A close-up photograph of the Enypniastes caught at 2,750 meters on the conti- nental margin in the Celebes Sea between Indone- sia and the Philippines reveals its mud-filled intestine through its transparent body. Image: Laurence P. Madin 100. Joe F. Siebenauller 101. Continental Margin Ecosystems on a Worldwide Scale 102. Myriam Sibuet 103. Matt Kupchik 104. Continental Margin Ecosystems 105 on a Worldwide Scale 105. Robert S. Carney RECENSEMENT DE LA VIE MARINE

50 POST CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 51 THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS - - deployed the first continental- first the deployed Project 107

110 108 Image: Galatée Films Galatée Image: Canada Australia Canada/United States Canada/United Canada . Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project Tracking Shelf Ocean Pacific . Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Shelf Ocean Pacific . Melinda Jacobs Melinda . Society Conservation Sturgeon River Fraser . 106 109 110 106. With acoustic tags implanted in five species of young Pacific salmon and detected by curtains curtains by detected and salmon Pacific young of species five in implanted tags acoustic With 106. of migrating and timing speed, the direction, reconstructed scientists the coast, along of receivers seasons and regions coastal the showed photograph the in those like fish from Signals individuals. survival. discourage or favor either that 109 107–108 The The

Past Leaders Leaders Past Jackson George Kristianson Gerry David Welch Welch David Project Leader Leader Project Bolger James scale array to track marine animals acoustically, and followed juvenile salmon salmon juvenile followed and acoustically, animals marine ocean- some track to of array survival scale estimated ocean, to river from kilometers of thousands of tracks stur vast migrations 16,000 surprisingly of and stocks, discovered salmon library migrating expanding an With clear boundaries. a built national project across the geon squid, jumbo to salmon from species different 18 from global of critical the to for designation the contributed prototype data, a telemetry as for sharing served inghouse and sturgeon, green threatened for habitat Network. Tracking Ocean A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Natural Geography in Shore Areas project initiated the first global nearshore biodiversity inventory, sampling in beds and communities using a standardized protocol to establish baseline information and long-term monitoring of nearshore sites. The project sampled over 200 sites and set up more than 40 long-term sites. It discovered new species and recorded species and habitats where they had not been previously found. Stu- dents in Egypt, Greece, Tanzania, the United States, Venezuela, and Japan contributed records to the Census through the project.

Project Leaders Yoshihisa Shirayama Japan Brenda Konar United States Katrin Iken United States Patricia Miloslavich Venezuela Juan José Cruz Motta Venezuela Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi Italy Edward Kimani Kenya Gerhard Pohle Canada 111 NaGISA

112

113

114 111. Alaskan scientists studying the near shore photographed this Nereocystis, a ma- rine alga commonly referred to as bull kelp. Near the shore and in shallow gulfs of the Pacific coast of North America, Nereocystis forms kelp forests on beds of rock. It can grow 115 70 meters long from a root-like holdfast of about 40 centimeters. Image: Brenda Konar 112. Tohru Iseto 113. Ana Karinna Carbonini 114. Hyakubun Harada 115. Susan Ryan 116. Iacopo Bertocci

116

52 CReefs CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 53 THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS - project partnered to conduct the to conduct partnered project 119 118 122 121 patterns in uniform, standardized data. standardized uniform, in patterns States United

States United Australia of likely new species and familiar species in new places as well as as well as places new in species familiar and species new likely of

Megan Moews Megan developed a standardized tool, the Autonomous Reef Monitoring Struc Monitoring Reef Autonomous the tool, standardized a developed

Image: Julian Finn Finn Julian Image: Census of Ecosystems Reef of Coral Census Russell Moffitt Russell . Susan Middleton Susan . 120 117 ture (ARMS), to compare distributions of species on reefs as well as monitor as as on monitor well reefs of species distributions to (ARMS), compare ture deployed now 600 ARMS The and acidification. warming as such changes global reveal will Leaders Project Knowlton Nancy Julian Caley Caley Julian 122 119–121. 119–121. 118. 118. 117. On a coral reef off northeastern Australia, Australia, northeastern off reef coral a On 117. in Island Lizard named Cook Captain what near 1770 for its many lizards, Census researchers collected this new in an Autonomous at a Structure of depth Reef Monitoring 10–12 meters. The specimen is believed to be a new species. The The of life It in reefs. coral exploration the discovered concerted largest world’s thousands The ofheads. deadcoral in samples tiny species unidentified diverse highly project Russell Brainard Brainard Russell

A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Spanning tidal pools to seamounts, the Gulf of Maine Area project as- sembled more than 4,000 species in a new register and estimated abundance and diversity of microbes. Analyses showed that habitat explains about a third of variation in distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates. New so- nars created instantaneous, continuous views of species distributions, including the assembling and swirling of shoals of millions of herring. The novel census of a large area helps managers consider not just one species at a time but an entire .

Project Leaders 124 Sara Ellis Canada/United States Lewis Incze United States Peter Lawton Canada Past Leaders Ken Foote United States Evan Richert United States 123 GoMA

126

125

123. The 4,000 plus species in the Gulf of 127 Maine searchable register include the pictured sea star, , found along the shore of Cobscook Bay, Maine. The Census project found twice as many species and thus greater biodiversity in the Gulf than previously estimated. Image: Christina Kulfan 124. Susan Ryan 125. Peter Stevick 126. Jon Witman 127. Kelly Bentham RÉCENSMAN LA VIE MARIN

54

THE CENSUS TEAMS

In the International Census of Marine Microbes, microbiologists from 25 countries determined the range of , distribution, and abun- dance of oceanic microbes. The investigators found diversity at least 10 to 100 times the previous estimate. A liter of seawater contained about 38,000 kinds of bacteria. In more than 1,200 widely distributed marine samples from water, sediment, and around animals, researchers found some microbes live everywhere, while others live in only a few places. They discovered a “rare biosphere” in which rare microbes account for most ocean diversity.

Project Leaders Mitchell Sogin United States Jan de Leeuw Netherlands Linda Amaral-Zettler United States

128

129 ICoMM

128. The acantharians are one of the four types of large amoebae (microbial eukaryotes) known to occur in marine open waters. The 130 2-millimeter-wide specimen, about the size of a flea, was captured off Bermuda. Image: Linda Amaral-Zettler 129. Carola Espinoza 130. MOVIE 131. Victor Gallardo CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE

131

55 A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Census of Marine Zooplankton project produced a global view of diversity and distribution of holozooplankton, the animals that drift in ocean currents throughout their lifespan. Researchers collected more than 10,000 samples from every ocean basin. Training 250 new taxonomists, they discov- ered more than 85 new species, 7 new genera, and 2 new families, many of which are already formally described. They used genetic profiles to develop characteristic fingerprints for all the zooplankton life in any volume of water.

Project Leaders Ann Bucklin United States Shuhei Nishida Japan Sigrid Schiel Germany

132

133 CMarZ

134

135

132. When U.S. and Filipino zooplankton scientists searched the Celebes Sea for new species in its deep water, they discovered and temporarily named this worm, about 10 centimeters long with tentacles, squidworm. One of the small animals that floats or swims weakly, the squidworm turned out to be a new species of in the class of worms. Image: Laurence P. Madin 136 133. M.D. Allison 134. Nancy Copley 135. Laurence P. Madin 136. Bruce Cowden 137. M.D. Allison 137 YFIRLIT YFIR LÍFRÍKI HAFSINS

56 TOPP CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 57 THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS - - 144 142 139 project tagged and tracked 4,300 ma 4,300 tracked and tagged project traveled, their electronic tags recorded their journeys for their journeys tags recorded their electronic traveled, Thunnus thynnus, Thunnus United States United States United States United Australia United States United Image: Richard Hermann Richard Image: Australia Tagging of Pacific Predators Pacific of Tagging Daniel Costa Daniel Josh Adams Josh –143.

Tagging of Pacific Predators Pacific of Tagging 141 140 138 143 researchers studying top predators. In all, 23 species were tracked feeding, mating, and migrating migrating and mating, feeding, tracked were species 23 all, In predators. top studying researchers Pacific. the in 139. 140 144. 138. 138. As tuna, bluefin Steven Bograd Bograd Steven Project Leaders Leaders Project Block Barbara rine predators of rine from predators tags signals public—dis 23 the to on species Electronic their journeys. sometimes researchers—and to on and satellites to relayed logged and to tropics the poles the from measured moving oceans, entire electronically spanning tags animals Tagged played Other dove. and continent. swam to animals continent the from as and water surrounding many the where of spots,” “hot characteristics ocean to corridors along migrated periods. frequently extended animals for species—congregate multiple individuals—and The The Randy Kochevar Kochevar Randy Geoff Arnold Arnold Geoff Past Leaders Leaders Past Gunn John Daniel Costa Costa Daniel

A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

Studying old and even ancient artifacts and archives, the systematic collabora- tion between humanities and sciences of the History of Marine Animal Populations project found evidence of how humanity and nature change marine life. The utility of the evidence for managing ocean life established the discipline of marine environmental history. Shell jewelry, mosaics, records of taxation on fishing boats, logs, and menus revealed changing marine life and its causes—sometimes storms, sometimes climate, and especially, hu- man harvest of animals and destruction of habitats.

Project Leaders Poul Holm Ireland Brian MacKenzie Denmark Anne Husum Marboe Denmark Bo Poulsen Denmark 145 Andrew Rosenberg United States HMAP

146

145. Marine historians reconstructed the state of marine life 147 when this seventeenth-century European gentleman dressed to go fishing. From past states and the present, the scientists assessed the changes caused by human and natural forces. Detail of a print by Nicholas DeLarmessin 146. History of Marine Animal Populations 147. Andrzej Antczak 148. Pieter Bruegel the Elder

148 CENSUS LIVET I HAVENE

58

CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 59 FMAP THE CENSUS TEAMS THE CENSUS project advanced tools 153 152 151 - - 150 Canada Image: © Bob Cranston Bob © Image: et al. et Canada Canada

Canada

Future Future of Marine Animal Populations Alexandra Morton Alexandra Future of Marine Animal Populations Animal Marine of Future Boris Worm Boris Worm, Boris 149 Heike Lotze Heike Boris Worm Worm Boris Past Leader Leader Past Myers A. Ransom 153. 153. 149. Sharks prey on circling fish near Cocos Island Island Cocos near fish circling on prey Sharks 149. in the eastern tropical Pacific. While marine life thrives in some areas, large predators are threat 150. 151. 152. ened across much of their ranges. To project future future project To ranges. of their much across ened large sets analyzed of life, marine scientists obser of vations of past a populations range of animals, From sharks. that including the baselines historical few a and declines many saw they established, they numbers. of recoveries Project Leaders Leaders Project Jonsen Ian for analyzing data from fishing and scientific surveys to determine changes changes to surveys determine and data scientific from for fishing analyzing Census the used entire Researchers patterns species. and abundance. distribution, diversity undiscovered in diversity, estimate shaping to and in diversity of spots temperature hot water define to of database importance how the documented They identified life. They marine redistribute might change climate ways and helped and declines conservation caused population rapid where showed that movements animal of patterns uncovered They recoveries. feeding. when concentrate to tend animals The The A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), built by the Census, forms the world’s largest online repository of spatially referenced ma- rine life data. Its present nearly 30 million records from more than 800 datasets locate species from Aaptolasma americana to Zyzzyzus warreni in all parts of the world’s oceans in an evolving but permanent repository. It identifies diversity hot spots and broad patterns, tracks dispersion of species, and integrates spe- cies locations with temperature, salinity, and depth. Online, it instantaneously maps the distribution of specimens of a species.

Project Leaders Edward Vanden Berghe United States J. Frederick Grassle United States Past Leader Mark J. Costello New Zealand OBIS

154

155

156 157 158

159 160

154. Maps of all observations in the Census database show the known and unknown ocean. A map centered on the Atlantic displays the general state: Observations are most numerous near surface, near shore, and near or between rich nations. Wide expanses await explo- ration. Image: Ocean Biogeographic Information System 155. Ocean Biogeographic Information System 156–157. Brook Herlach 158. Edward Vanden Berghe 159. Ocean Biogeographic Information System 160. Edward Vanden Berghe

Ä KNINGEN HAVSLIVSR

60 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 61

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sual Life Life in Vol. 24, Vol. Chioggia Tunis, 1995, 1995, Tunis, 13, 2009, pp. pp. 2009, 13,

Jan. , , 466 (7306): 591– 277 (1682): 679 679 (1682): 277 Nature Proceedings of the Royal So Royal the of Proceedings

“Global phytoplankton decline phytoplankton “Global et al., et et et al., Trends in Trends Ecology & Evolution, Conservation Biology, Conservation Splendors of Tunisian Mosaics, Tunisian of Splendors Alasdair McIntyreAlasdair (editor), Blackwell Publishing Census of Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team Visualization and Mapping Life Marine of Census Patterns and Processes of the Ecosystems of the Northern the of Ecosystems the of Processes and Patterns project Mid-Atlantic Daniel Costa. Courtesy of the U.S. Antarctic Living Resources Marine Southwest Program, California Jolla, La Center, Zealand New Auckland, of University Costello, J. Mark Films Galatée Sarano, François Turismo il per Italiano Nazionale Ente M., Yacoub, ciety B: Biological Sciences, Biological B: ciety Tagging of Pacific Predators. Reprinted the from and Oceans: Distribution, World’s Abun Diversity, dance, 2010 Ltd., by R. Gertwagen, S. from “Il mare Com’era,” 175. Fig. intera Le (Eds.). Giovanardi O. Fortibuoni, T. Raicevich, dall’epoca Mediterraneo nel ambiente ed uomo tra zioni ecologica ed storica visione una secolo: XIX al Romana delle attività di pesca. Atti del II internazio Workshop nale HMAP del Mediterraneo e Mar Nero. settembre 27–29 2006. Supplemento ai Quaderni ex ICRAM Key County Library, Monroe of courtesy Wil-Art Studio, Florida West, Reprinted from Loren McClenachan, “Documenting loss “Documenting McClenachan, Loren from Reprinted historical with Keys Florida the from fish trophy of large photographs,” Image from “Habitat utilization of the Gulf of Mexico by by Mexico of Gulf the of utilization “Habitat from Image Teoand PLoSBlock, ONE, andtuna,” bluefinyellowfin 2010 Jorgensen, Salvador 636–643, John Wiley and Sons Sons and Wiley John 636–643, Brian R. MacKenzie, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen Reprinted from #5, Heike K. Lotze and Boris “Historical Worm, base- permis with 2009, May animals,” marine large for lines Elsevier from Vi sion OAWRS the and Ratilal, Purnima Makris, Nicholas Team ization Victor A. Gallardo and Carola Universidad Espinoza, 1070552 Project FONDECYT Concepción, de G. Daniel Boyce, over the past century.” Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Ltd: Publishers 52. Ocean Biogeographic Information System System Information Biogeographic Ocean 52. Carolina North University, Duke Stimpert, K. Alison Team 55. Outreach and Education Life Marine of Census www.anne-b-edvardsen.com Edvardsen, Berg Anne Science Fisheries Islands Pacific NOAA Moews, Megan 2009 Honolulu, Center, www.headphonerecord.com/Nathalie_ Roland, Nathalie versity at Galveston at versity Roland/welcome.html Films Galatée Sarano, François Brisbane Museum, Queensland GaryCranitch, Team Visualization and Mapping Life Marine of Census 49. Chih-Lin Wei and Gilbert T. Rowe, Texas A&M Uni Texas Rowe, T. Gilbert and Wei Chih-Lin 49. 596, 2010 596,

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36. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 34. 34. 35. 41. 42. 32. 32. 33. 43. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 53. 53. 54– 56. 57. 58. 59. 50 60. 61. 62. 48

- -

442 (7101): (7101): 442

Adapted by

et et al. Nature,

Reprinted from Macmillan Pub from Macmillan Reprinted et al. et

et et al. 2010/07/28 online 2010/07/28 Queensland Museum, Brisbane Brisbane Museum, Queensland Nature, , 2525: 19–50, 2010 2010 19–50, 2525: , 447, 2006. 447, Vent: Anna-Louise Reysenbach and – Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Oceanographic Hole Woods Madin, Larry Perth University, Murdoch Huisman, John Fairbanks Alaska of University Iken, Katrin Ireland Northern of Museums National Picton, Bernard Colomban de Vargas © EPPO/SB Roscoff, France Roscoff, EPPO/SB © Vargas de Colomban Melbourne Victoria, Museum Finn, Julian Brisbane Museum, Queensland GaryCranitch, Academy Polish Oceanology, of Institute Kuklinski, Piotr Poland Sopot, York. Sciences, New of University, Rockefeller Stoeckle, Mark Barcode: Images: Cheryl Clarke-Hopcroft, Russ Hopcroft, Fairbanks Bodil Alaska of University Iken, Katrin and Bluhm, Ontario Guelph, of University Steinke, Dirk Fairbanks Alaska of University Bluhm, Bodil Ocean Biogeographic Information 27. System (source) (image) Life of Encyclopedia Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M UniversityChristi Corpus Tracking Shelf Ocean Pacific Southern Ocean Seals as Oceanographic Samplers, University of St. Andrews, Scotland (source), (image) Costa Daniel Predators Pacific of Tagging Costa, Daniel Massachusetts Institution, Oceanographic Hole Woods Institute, Research Aquarium Bay Monterey 2001, © permission, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Ltd. Publishers Macmillan permission, 444 California IRD Noumeá, Joelle and Lai, de Forges Bertrand Richer New Caledonia (shrimp), Juan Manuel (clam) Díaz, Colombia Insttuto MarViva, Fundación and Humboldt of University Science Marine of Institute Hoberg, K. Max Fairbanks Alaska Tittensor, Derek P. Philippe Bouchet and Benoit Fontaine, Fontaine, Benoit and Bouchet Philippe Paris naturelle, d’Histoire national Muséum Italy Ancona, of University Danovaro, Roberto Kingdom United Southampton, www.deepseaimages.co.uk Shale, David Cindy Lee Van Duke Dover, University Marine Labora of Fairbanks Alaska University top: Hopcroft, From Russ Cranitch, Gary E. Paul Oberlander Paul E. Massachusetts Institution, Oceanographic Hole Woods Fairbanks Alaska of University Bluhm, Bodil Eschmeyer, N. William by analysis and compilation dataset 2002–2006 Carolina North tory, Microbe: Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Ltd: lishers Jim Toomey, www.slagoon.com Toomey, Jim discovery.” and knowledge of History diversity: fish “Marine Zootaxa Gary Cranitch, Queensland Museum, Brisbane Museum, Queensland GaryCranitch, Lianne Dunn, Liannedunn.com Dunn, Lianne Census of Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team Visualization and Mapping Life Marine of Census

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. . 1. 1. 2 23. 23. 24. 25. 26 28. 29. 30. 31. 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 21. 13. 13. Centre, Oceanography National Gooday, J. Andrew 14. 15. 16. 22. 10. 10. 1 17. 12. 12. 9. 9. 7. 7. 8. – PHOTO CREDITS & IMAGE SOURCES IMAGE & CREDITS PHOTO 1 3–6. A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

ArcOD ChEss 63. Ian MacDonald, Florida State University. Scientists and 79. Craig Smith, University of Hawaii. A 30-ton grey whale crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy stand on the was studied with respect to community succession over ice in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean. many years. 64. Katrin Iken, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Diver photo- 80. MARUM, University of Bremen, © 2006. Near a vent graphs fauna below the ice of the central Arctic. 3 kilo­meters beneath the equatorial Atlantic, Census re- 65. Rolf Gradinger, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Helicop- searchers, using equipment attached to the remotely op- ter view of the Healy. erated vehicle Quest, found shrimp and other life forms. 66. Katrin Iken, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Diver sur- They were found living near a hydrothermal vent billowing faces after a dive under Arctic sea ice. chemical-laden water at an unprecedented 407° C, a tem- perature that melts lead easily. It was the hottest marine 67. Kevin Raskoff, Monterey Peninsula College, California temperature ever recorded. CAML 81. Daichi Fujita, Japan 68. Australian Antarctic Division, © Commonwealth of Australia. 82. MARUM, University of Bremen, The remotely operated Revealed by the powerful lights of a trawl-mounted cam- vehicle Isis withstands crushing pressures and extreme era, these elegant solitary sea squirts, or , stand temperatures to study the geology, geochemistry, and bi- half a meter high on the seabed, 200 meters below the ology of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Biogeogra- surface of the sea off Terre Adélie. They were photo- phy of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems project graphed during the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine 83. Anders Warren, Swedish Museum of Natural History Census (CEAMARC) voyage to the Southern Ocean in 84. Alexis Fifis, French Research Institute for Exploitation of 2010. Solitary sea squirts are fast growing, early colo- the Sea nizers that take advantage of new habitat created by icebergs scouring the seabed. CeDAMar 69. National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research 85. Myriam Schueller, University of Bochum. R/V Polarstern (NIWA) New Zealand, 2007. Census researchers on in the Southern Ocean. R/V Tangaroa hold giant Macroptychaster sea stars. 86. Wiebke Broekeland, Senckenberg Research Institute, 70. Philippe Koubbi, Institut Paul Émile Victor and Centre Frankfurt. The Epibenthic Sledge coming back with ben- national de la recherche scientifique. The Japanese thic animals from the abyssal seafloor of the Weddell research vessel R/V Umitaku Maru participated with Sea. two other vessels during the International Polar Year 87. Brigitte Ebbe, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt. 2007/08 in the CEAMARC voyage to study life in the Large benthic fauna caught with an Agassiz Trawl in the waters off East Antarctica. Southern Ocean is being separated from the deep-sea 71. Cédric d’Udekem d’Acoz, Flanders Marine Institute, mud. Oostende, Belgium 88. Brigitte Ebbe, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt. Scientists prepare a box corer for deployment. MAR-ECO 89. Wiebke Broekeland, Senckenberg Research Institute, 72. Nicola King, Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, Abys- Frankfurt. Scientists process a collected sediment sample. sal grenadiers, Coryphaenoides armatus, were pho- 90. Jan Michels, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt tographed by one of MAR-ECO’s ROBIO landers de- ployed on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. CenSeam 73. David Shale, www.deepseaimages.co.uk. A deepwater 91. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, lizard fish. An ambush predator usually seen sitting mo- New Zealand tionless on the seafloor. 92. Peter Marriott, National Institute of Water and Atmo- 74. Thomas de Lange Wenneck, Institute of Marine Research, spheric Research, New Zealand, R/V Tangaroa about Norway. An orange roughy that is probably more than to set sail. 100 years old is held by a scientist 93. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, 75. David Shale, www.deepseaimages.co.uk New Zealand. Orange roughy swimming over a sea- 76. Klokkargaardens Film AB. Launching of the manned mount. submersible MIR to dive to 4,200 meters in the Charlie- 94–95. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Gibbs Fracture Zone, 2003. New Zealand. Towed cameras, such as the deep-towed 77. Thomas de Lange Wenneck, Institute of Marine Research, imaging system (DTIS) have been used to collect video Norway. Researchers sort a deepwater bottom trawl and photographs of seamount communities. sample. 96. Global Census of Marine Life on Seamounts. The Cen- 78. David Shale, www.deepseaimages.co.uk. After two months Seam Steering Committee, 2008 aboard Norway’s state-of-the-art R/V G.O. Sars, 60 sci- 97. Global Census of Marine Life on Seamounts. In 2008 entists from 13 countries returned from the Mid-Atlantic CenSeam-linked researchers sampled seamounts along Ridge with unprecedented quantity and quality of sam- the Macquarie Ridge. ples and data, impressive video footage captured by 98. Global Census of Marine Life on Seamounts. The CenSeam robotic submersibles, sonar data showing deep donuts Steering Committee, 2007 of plankton 10 kilometers in diameter, and photographs of many probable new species among the more than 80,000 specimens collected. SENSUS BIOTA LAUT SENSUS BIOTA

62 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE 63 ------

and and

feed on toring Struc toring PHOTO CREDITS & IMAGE SOURCES & IMAGE CREDITS PHOTO 2006, 2006, courtesy of Northwestern

Megaptera Megaptera novaeangliae, crab also has its very own species of Gulf of Maine Area Program, 2005. Two Two 2005. Program, Area Maine of Gulf tists believe it may serve as a form of com of form a as serve may it believe tists The . . In 2009, In Census scientists launched 2009, a “Hands- Victor Victor Gallardo, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Bacterial mats that thrive mostly on sulfide Chile. of coast the off found were Microbial Microbial Oceanography at the University of Vienna for dark ocean collect seawater Researchers (MOVIE). Romanche the in cruise a during samples DNA microbial Atlantic. equtorial the of 0°N) (19°W, Zone Fracture entific Submersible Facility). Ship-board researchers direct a remotely operated vehicle in area. the Conservation Coral Channel Northeast Hole Woods Giant sulfur bacteria inhabit anoxic sediments in the Pacific. South eastern Kelly Kelly Bentham, Bedford Institute of Canada, (with 2010 Oceanography, permission from Canadian Sci Susan Susan Middleton © spec A Monument. National Marine Islands Hawaiian tacular anemone captured in the French Islands. off Shoals the Frigate Hawaiian Northwestern not gold seen on a is its claws phenomenon The shiny Scien before. munication anemone attached to its shell fuzzy (brown, area other be any to attach to known not is which shell), the low how of example one but is This crabs. hermit of species they than questions more pose often discoveries Census answer. Boston University, Suffolk Kulfan, Christina Cob Maine’s along samples collect researchers GoMA coastline. Bay scook Stevick, Peter whales, humpback . red a retrieve Divers 2008. University, Brown Witman, Jon Ledge. Cashes isolated from camera time-lapse cessing, and molecular development workshop. workshop. development molecular and cessing, 2009. elementary targeted that effort outreach on-ARMS” over reached since has but children, school high junior worldwide. it make to plans with and people 6,000 Megan Moews, NOAA PIFSC, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2008. 2008. Hawaii, Honolulu, PIFSC, NOAA Moews, Megan Julian and Brainard, Rusty Knowlton, Nancy PI’s CReef’s Caley process off ARMS retreived of the Island of pro the 2008 ARMS during sampling, Hawaii, Oahu, Russell Moffitt, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad Atmospheric and Oceanic National Moffitt, Russell Science Fisheries Islands (NOAA) Pacific ministration A 2008. Hawaii, Papahanaumokuakea, (PIFSC), Center Moni Reef Autonomous installs diver NOAA tures (ARMS) at Pearl and Hermes in the North Islands. Hawaiian western Julian Finn, Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Melbourne, Victoria, Museum Finn, Julian 121. Megan Moews, NOAA PIFSC, Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii, Honolulu, NOAA PIFSC, Moews, Megan 121.

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131. 131. ICoMM 128. Linda Amaral-Zettler, Marine Biological Laboratory, Carola Universidad Espinoza, 129. de Concepción, Chile. 130. GoMA 123. 124. Susan Ryan, University of Southern Maine, 2007. 125. 126. 127. 120 122. 119. 118. 118. CReefs 117.

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col

Lenaick Menot Lenaick l’Atlante, suspended over the ocean ocean the over suspended Sealink

Siebenauller, Louisiana State University. After tow After University. State Louisiana Siebenauller,

versities around the world, as students in Venezuela dem Venezuela in students as world, the around versities onstrate. researchers study bivalve taxonomy at a workshop in Malaysia. Penang, The Susan of Ryan, University Southern Maine, 2007. late who Rigby Robin Dr. in was integrat instrumental prepares of Maine, the in Gulf sampling nearshore ing sampling. for quadrats collect Divers 2006. Pisa, of University Bertocci, Iacopo subtidal samples from the along Italy. Livorno, near coast rocky Calafuria the Venezuela, 2010. The NaGISA sampling protocols have have Ana protocols Karinna sampling NaGISA Carbonini, Universidad The Simón Bolívar, 2010. Venezuela, uni and schools high at several tools teaching become lects a sediment core from a seagrass bed in Vietnam. in bed seagrass a from core sediment a lects Tohru Iseto, Kyoto University, 2009. Hua Thai Tuyen Tuyen Thai Hua 2009. University, Kyoto Iseto, Tohru Brenda Konar, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2004 Fairbanks, Alaska of University Konar, Brenda Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society. A Society. tagged Sturgeon Conservation River Fraser researchers. by released is sturgeon Robert S. Carney, Lousiana State University. Scientist and and Scientist University. State Lousiana Carney, S. Robert manned the of shpere acrylic the in expectedly wait pilot Johnson submersible USA Alaska, Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project, smolt. salmon tagged a 2006.displays searcher A re Ocean. Pacific the into released are salmon project/ Tracking Shelf Ocean Pacific Jacobs, Melinda await receivers Acoustic Corporation. Research Kintama Pacific the along deployment before programming final America. North of coast while the ship manuvers for a precision launch to launch for 800 a the manuvers while precision ship Mexico. of Gulf the of margin the on meters seum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Wash Institution, Smithsonian History, Natural of seum 2007. January D.C., ington, Continental Margin Ecosystems on a Global Scale. Scale. Global a on Ecosystems Margin Continental COMARGE Steering Committee meeting, National Mu National meeting, Committee Steering COMARGE Matt Kupchik, Louisiana State University. Deep sampling sampling Deep University. State Louisiana Kupchik, Matt A is recovered the clock. beam trawl around proceeds at 0300 from watch meters 2,200 in the Carney Gulf Bob of Mexico as Dr. and Becker Erin student graduate life. deep-sea of sample the process to wait and handles African margin samples obtained with the ROV ROV the with obtained samples margin African handles 6000. Victor ing an trawl on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico for for F. Mexico Joe of Gulf the of bottom the on trawl otter an ing crew ship’s and Keenan Sean technician LSU hours, two to prepare the remove sample of deep-sea life onto a deck. pitching the On board the Sea. of tion Continental Margin Ecosystems on a Global Scale. At Scale. on a Global Ecosystems Margin Continental tendees tendees at a “Towards Globalization of COMARGE” June at workshop Paris, the Océanographique, Institut 2006 Laurence P. Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Institution Oceanographic Hole Woods Madin, P. Laurence

114. Hyakubun 114. Harada, Kyoto University, 2009. Coastal 115. 116. 113. 113. 112. 112. NaGISA 111. 107. 107. 108. Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project, 2006. Tagged 109. 110. POST Banks, Port salmon, Sockeye Films. Galatée of Courtesy 106. 105. 105. 104. 104. 103. 103. COMARGE 99. 100. 101. 101. 102. Myriam 102. Sibuet, French Research Institute for Exploita A DECADE OF DISCOVERY

CMarZ 147. Andrzej Antczak, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, 132. Laurence P. Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Venezuela. Between 1200 and 1500 CE, more than 5 133. M.D. Allison, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, million conchs were harvested leaving this pre-Hispanic 2006. Researcher Russell R. Hopcroft (University of megamidden, or shell mound, of queen conch, Strom- Alaska Fairbanks) aboard the R/V Ronald H. Brown bus gigas, on La Pelona Island, Los Roques Archipelago, photographs live zooplankton. Venezuela. 134. Nancy Copley, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu- 148. Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, drawing, Pieter van der Hey- tion, 2006. Zooplankton net heading to 5,000 meters den, engraving, Big Fish Eat Little Fish, 1557 depth, towed by the R/V Ronald H. Brown in the Sar- FMAP gasso Sea. 149. © Bob Cranston 135. Laurence P. Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- tution. Bluewater divers silhouetted against the ocean 150. Boris Worm, Dalhousie University. FMAP researcher surface. The safety diver (in the foreground) carries a performs an underwater transect off the coast of Belize short stick hanging down from his clip to push away to study the effects of fishing on species richness. curious sharks. The other diver swims with a collecting 151. Future of Marine Animal Populations. This animal move- bag filled with jars to hold small animals. Another bag ment diagram shows linking of multiple environmental is clipped to the down-line below the trapeze. The lines and tracking datasets to explore animal movement, be- on the right side of the photo are clipped to two other havior, and habitat use. divers (not shown). 152. Worm, et al., 2005. Science 309: 1365–1369. Chang- 136. Bruce Cowden, bosun of the R/V Ronald H. Brown, 2006. es in tuna and billfish species richness over time (ex- Illustration of three-gilled angry bosunfish. pected species per 50 individuals). These long-term declines correlated with increasing pressure. 137. M.D. Allison, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2006. Vials of copepods ready for DNA sequencing. 153. Alexandra Morton. The late Ransom A. Myers near the Ahta River in British Columbia, 2007. TOPP OBIS 138. Richard Hermann, Galatée Films 154. Ocean Biogeographic Information System, Census of 139. Josh Adams, Tagging of Pacific Predators. Darren Scott Marine Life Mapping and Visualization Team with tagged sooty shearwater. 155. Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Since 140. Courtesy of Tagging of Pacific Predators. TOPP whale 2000, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System researcher Bruce Mate returns to the ship. has grown to nearly 28 million records of more than 141. Courtesy of Tagging of Pacific Predators. The TOPP 120,000 species from more than 800 datasets. The red whale taggers returning to the dock. dots on the map show the global distribution of OBIS 142. Courtesy of Tagging of Pacific Predators. TOPP scientists records. at work tagging a bluefin tuna. 156. Brook Herlach, Rutgers University, New Jersey. J. Fred- 143. Courtesy of Tagging of Pacific Predators. A salmon erick Grassle, former chair of the Census of Marine Life shark is raised onto the boat for tagging. Scientific Steering Committee and project leader of 144. Daniel Costa, University of California, Santa Cruz. A OBIS at Rutgers University. team tags a Northern Elephant Seal. 157. Brook Herlach, Rutgers University, New Jersey. William Stafford at work in Rutgers University Institute for Ma- HMAP rine and Coastal Sciences, host institute to the interna- 145. Detail of a print by Nicholas De Larmessin. tional OBIS Secretariat. 146. Courtesy of History of Marine Animal Populations. 158. Edward Vanden Berghe, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Whaling logbook from November 1838. Brook Herlach at work in Rutgers University Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, host institute to the inter- national OBIS Secretariat. 159. Courtesy of Ocean Biogeographic Information System. The OBIS Governing Board, which met regularly to en- sure the integration of worldwide data. 160. Edward Vanden Berghe, Rutgers University, New Jer-sey. Fabio Lang da Silveira, Chair of OBIS’ Managers Com- mittee, and Daphne Fautin, head of the OBIS delegation to GBIF, at the eBiosphere conference in London, June 2009.

Mother and calf Weddell seal Terre Adélie, Antarctica, 2007. Image: Galatée Films

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