1. Making Ocean Life Count: The Census of Marine Life and Beyond
Dr. Paul Snelgrove
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Canada Research Chair in
Boreal and Cold Ocean Systems

2. Coordination, cooperation, collaboration
17 CoML Projects
Coastal (3)
Deep-Sea (5)
Polar (2)
Global Information
& Analysis (4)
Open Ocean (3)
And there is a very large international effort underway to rectify the gaps in our knowlede of biodiversity and, as the slide indicates, this is a ten-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life in the oceans -- past, present, and future.
So without doubt, our understanding of biodiversity will improve over the next 5 years as will the development of predictive tools for biodiversity
2700 researchers
80+ nations
10 year study

3. Changing oceans
Oceans past
Oceans present
Oceans future

4. Tools and Technologies4

5. Publications and other Outputs
3100 papers and counting
Special collections
5+ books (science to children)
Movies and videos
Countless newspaper, magazine and television stories

6. A Mobilized, Networked, Enthused and Equipped Science Community

7. The Census of Marine Life
Beyond 2010

8. Life in a Changing Ocean
 The Global Marine Biodiversity Consortium is an international collaboration of scientists committed to expanding marine biodiversity knowledge to support healthy and sustainable ecosystems.
Biodiversity and ecosystem services
Biodiversity in ocean spatial planning
Biodiversity observation
Biodiversity and sustainable ocean use

9. Biodiversity and ecosystem services
Does total biodiversity infuence delivery of ecosystem functions and services, or do a few key species do most of the work?
When a species disappears, can another take over its role?
Are biodiversity hotspots also ecosystem service hotspots?
How do species small and large interact, from shallow to deep?
Which functions are vulnerable, and which can be restored?
At what point do ecosystems lose their functions or services?

10. Biodiversity in Ocean Spatial Planning
How and where do humans affect movement and distribution of marine life?
How can we predict biodiversity in poorly known regions?
How does movement connect oceans and affect management?
Where are species declines greatest and how to minimize them?
Where are priority areas to maintain diversity, productivity, and critical habitat?

11. Biodiversity Observation Biodiversity Observation
How does species diversity and abundance vary over time?
Does diversity influence resistance and resilience from disturbances (pollution to tsunamis)?
How does biodiversity and function respond to global climate changes (warming, acidification)?
Are some organisms early warning systems of change?
What information is needed from biodiversity observation to predict future changes in biodiversity?

12. Biodiversity and Sustainable Ocean Use
How do climate change and other human pressures interact to influence marine biodiversity and on what scales?
How do these effects vary among ecosystems?
What strategies succeed or fail in conservation efforts to recover decimated populations and ecosystems?