|
|
| | | Navigate the Atlas:  | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | | Biology |
Maintained by CoML
 |
| |
Text-only Printer-friendly version
| | The oceans contain the origins of biodiversity on Earth, with 75% of the major taxa (kinds) being exclusively or primarily marine. The physical and chemical properties of our oceans make them excellent hosts for an abundance and diversity of marine life. We must understand the biological and ecological factors controlling the marine environment before we can successfully develop global strategies for sustainable use. As ocean policy-makers satisfy the socioeconomic aspirations of expanding human populations, they must also ensure the long-term viability of marine species, resources and habitats. Partnerships among the Census of Marine Life, the Encyclopaedia of Life and the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) have gone far towards documenting all 230,000 known marine species in time for the first Census of Marine Life - past, present and future completed in October 2010. The report on First Census of Marine Life 2010 Highlights of a Decade of Discovery is in English with a summary also in Italian, Korean, Chinese, German, French, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese. |  | | Photo title: aboutmacridge | | Photo credit: Census of Marine Life | | | | Ecology | | |  In the ocean, a certain interdependency exists between its living things. Ocean inhabitants enjoy a deep and intricate relationship between each other, as well as with their marine environment. To explore the relationship between Biology and Ecology in more depth, please visit the Ecology section of the UN Atlas!
See More... | | |  | | | | |
 | | | | |
| Describing Ocean Life in Olden Days, Researchers Upend Modern Notions of Natural Animal Sizes, Abundance
Census of Marine Life Press Release 23 May 2009 | |
| | Before oil hunters in the 1800s harpooned whales by the score, the ocean between east Australia and New Zealand teemed with about 27,000 southern right whales – roughly 30 times as many as today – according to one of several astonishing reconstructions of ocean life in olden days to be presented at a Census of Marine Life conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada from May 26-28, 2009. At about the same time, pods of blue whales, 18-foot orca and thresher sharks darkened the waters off Cornwall, England. Blue sharks harassed fishermen along the coast, herds of 12-foot harbour porpoise pursued fish upriver, and dolphins regularly played in waters inshore. From such diverse sources as old ship logs, literary texts, tax accounts, newly translated legal documents and even mounted trophies, Census researchers are piecing together images – some flickering, others in high definition – of fish of such sizes, abundance and distribution in ages past that they stagger modern imaginations. | |
Read more at http://www.coml.org/node/282.
| |
Other News |
|
|
|
979 Topics - 5275 Related Knowledge - 11277 Members - 48 Editors |
freeMem:173,961,848 totMem:463,142,912 reqNum:133580 openSessions:0 generationTime:2013/06/19 03:39:39 |
E-Mail Topic link