The oceans cover vast amounts of the earth’s surface and contain numerous organisms that are found nowhere else. The diversity of marine life is huge and may rival that of the rain forests in the number of species found there, and, yet, our knowledge of ocean life lags far behind that of terrestrial life. A new age of ocean exploration is upon us, and society realizes the very practical need to better understand changes occurring in the seas for their implications on human life and our marine resources.
The Census of Marine Life (CoML) addresses these issues as a growing global network of researchers in about 80 nations engaged in a ten-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the world’s oceans - past, present and future. The emphasis of the program is field studies, which are to be conducted in poorly known habitats as well as those assumed to be well known. In both coastal and deep waters, projects will identify new organisms and collect new information on ocean life. Through the field studies and other projects, ranging from analyzing historical documents to modeling future ecosystems, the CoML will enable scientists to compare what once lived in the oceans to what lives there now, and to project what will live there in the future.
Census of Marine Life is an Affiliated Program of SCOR
