Alex D Rogers, Ward Appeltans, Jorge Assis, Lisa T Ballance, Philippe Cury, Carlos Duarte, Fabio Favoretto, Lisa A Hynes, Joy A Kumagai, Catherine E Lovelock, Patricia Miloslavich, Aidin Niamir, David Obura, Bethan C O'Leary, Eva Ramirez-Llodra, Gabriel Reygondeau, Callum Roberts, Yvonne Sadovy, Oliver Steeds, Tracey Sutton, Derek P Tittensor, Enriqueta Velarde, Lucy Woodall, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza
We review the current knowledge of the biodiversity of the ocean as well as the levels of decline and threat for species and habitats. The lack of understanding of the distribution of life in the ocean is identified as a significant barrier to restoring its biodiversity and health. We explore why the science of taxonomy has failed to deliver knowledge of what species are present in the ocean, how they are distributed and how they are responding to global and regional to local anthropogenic pressures. This failure prevents nations from meeting their international commitments to conserve marine biodiversity with the results that investment in taxonomy has declined in many countries...
2022: Advances in Marine Biology