Difference between revisions of "Portal:Marine Biodiversity"

Revision as of 17:43, 24 June 2008

Marine Biodiversity

Biodiversity is an all-inclusive term to describe the total variation among living organisms of our planet. In its simplest form, biodiversity or biological diversity

Killer whale Orcinus orca (Copyright SMRU)

is therefore 'Life on Earth' and includes marine biodiversity 'Life in the Seas and Oceans.` The marine environment has a very high biodiversity because 32 out of the 33 described animal phyla are represented in there. Biodiversity includes four main components: Genetic diversity refers to the genetic variation that occurs among members of the same species, Species diversity (taxonomic diversity) refers to the variety of species or other taxonomic groups in an ecosystem, Ecosystem diversity refers to the variety of biological communities found on earth (with ecosystem diversity we generally consider its two levels, that is, communities and ecosystems) and Functional diversity refers to the variety of biological processes, functions or characteristics of a particular ecosystem.

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In the news

World Register of Marine Species launched

MarBEF supported World Register of Marine Species launched after 1st Marine Taxonomy Workshop in Oostende June 2008,

The news was reported in at least 21 stories in 9 languages distributed by 14 newswires, which also appeared on more than 275 media websites across 27 countries.

The release also generated several electronic media stories, including the BBC World Service (The World Today), Deutche Welle, Radio NZ, TV NZ, CBC Radio, National Public Radio and a New Jersey TV news show.

Some of the story lines: