These 100,000 marine species that the ‘largest census in history’ of ocean life hopes to discover

2023-05-10 09:03:23

The scientists involved in this new project aim to discover 100,000 new species in ten years. Courtesy Ocean Census.

Some 2,400 species are discovered each year and this number has hardly changed since the 1800s. The project, which runs over ten years, aims to discover four times more than the current rate of new identifications.

Life in the depths of the oceans remains shrouded in mystery. Of an estimated 2.2 million marine species, barely 10% have been discovered and named to date. To enrich our knowledge of this life that has evolved “pendant 4 billion years, three times longer than on dry land», researchers launched the project at the end of April Ocean Censuswhich they present as “largest census program in historyin the oceans.

Some 2400 species are discovered each year and this number has not changed much since the 1800s. Most countries have only a small number of survey vessels and they are not only used for biodiversity research, explains the P^r Paul Smith, director of the Natural History Museum at Oxford University, who is taking part in the project. Historically, documentation of ocean biodiversity has been relatively underfunded.»

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The program Ocean Census therefore aims to accelerate these discoveries of animals or…

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