A perspective on the Census of marine life. The role of natural history institutions for this programme

Abstract

The Census of marine life programme (CoML) is expected to generate a large amount of information on the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine communities, many of them new or poorly known. Institutions such as natural history museums can play a crucial role in providing the necessary tools to allow the CoML to advance knowledge in the fields of marine systematics and biogeography. These institutions can contribute taxonomic expertise to provide quality-controlled identifications of species; specimen collections to allow for cross-checking of occurrences and a historical context for new data; information, both paper and electronic, on taxonomy, ecology and other topics to enable researchers to review past work; education opportunities to inform the public about the results of current and past research on the marine world. Challenges for these institutions in the future include the recruitment, training, and retention of taxonomic experts, development of advanced molecular techniques for more reliable and faster species identification in certain groups, and integration of expertise and other taxonomic resources into research on scientific processes from start to finish.