Oxford University Museum of Natural History is to play a leading role in the largest programme in history to discover life in our ocean. The endeavour, known as Ocean Census, has set the ambitious target of finding at least 100,000 new marine species in the first decade.
Scientists believe little more than 10% of the species that live in our seas have been found and that around two million remain undiscovered. But up to now, the process of finding and scientifically describing species (taxonomy) has been slow and methodical, with the average rate of new species discovery little changed since the 1800s. This approach is clearly unable to address the threats posed by the climate and biodiversity crises that could result in the loss of the majority of species on Earth.
Ocean Census aims to revolutionise this by harnessing the power of technologies such as digital imaging, sequencing, and machine learning, to discover ocean life at speed and at scale. Using cloud-based approaches to share knowledge, the project aims to catalyse global efforts to conserve our oceans, besides significantly advance our understanding of fundamental science. Such areas include oxygen production, carbon cycling, sustainable food production, the evolution of life on Earth, and potentially even discoveries of new medicine and biotechnologies.
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Posted On: 27/04/2023