Census of Marine Life

research project
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Also known as: COML
Quick Facts
Byname:
COML
Date:
2000 - 2010

Census of Marine Life, international collaborative research project, undertaken 2000–10, that catalogued the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the world’s seas and oceans. The first of its kind, the census involved 17 discrete projects and 2,700 scientists. Their efforts substantially expanded global scientific knowledge of marine biota and identified groups of organisms and geographic regions in need of further investigation. In 1995 the National Research Council of the American National Academy of Sciences issued a report calling for a comprehensive analysis of marine biodiversity. The report was forwarded to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, an American nonprofit that ...(100 of 782 words)