New Int’l Census of Marine Life Takes Shape
Friday, July 11th, 2008
A computer biology lab at Rutgers has created The International Census of Marine Life, combining exploration and discovery with database development and analysis.
The census project also has an online component, World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Census researchers have discovered more than 5300 potential new species recently, ranging in size from zooplankton (1cm-1mm in length) to a new giant Madagascar Lobster (4kg).
With fast-growing ocean dead zones (this year, the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone is as large as Massachusetts) and threatened coral reefs, unfortunately the act of cataloging might become a virtual database for missing species.
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