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The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2017. WoRMS is a unique database: there is no comparable global database for marine species, which is driven by a large, global expert community, is supported by a Data Management Team and can rely on a permanent host institute, dedicated to keeping WoRMS online. Over the past ten years, the content of WoRMS has grown steadily, and the system currently contains more than 242,000 accepted marine species. WoRMS has not yet reached completeness: approximately 2,000 newly described species per year are added, and editors also enter the remaining missing older names–both accepted and unaccepted–an effort amounting to approximately 20,000 taxon name additions per year. WoRMS is used extensively, through different channels, indicating that it is recognized as a high-quality database on marine species information. It is updated on a daily basis by its Editorial Board, which currently consists of 490 taxonomic and thematic experts located around the world. Owing to its unique qualities, WoRMS has become a partner in many large-scale initiatives including OBIS, LifeWatch and the Catalogue of Life, where it is recognized as a high-quality and reliable source of information for marine taxonomy.

International audience; The World Register of Marine species (WoRMS) has been established for a decade. The early history of the database involved compilation of existing global and regional species registers. This aggregation, combined with changes to data types and the changing needs of WoRMS users, has resulted in an evolution of data-entry consistency over time. With the task of aggregating the accepted species names for all marine species approaching completion, our focus has shifted to improving the consistency and quality of data held while keeping pace with the addition of > 2000 new marine species described annually. This paper defines priorities and longer-term aims that promote standardisation within and interoperability among biodiversity databases, provides editors with further information on how to input nomenclatural data in a standardised way and clarifies for users of WoRMS how and why names are represented as they are. We 1) explain the categories of names included; 2) list standard reasons used to explain why a name is considered ‘unaccepted’ or ‘uncertain’; 3) present and explain the more difficult situations encountered; 4) describe categories of sources and notes linked to a taxon; and 5) recommend how type material, type locality and environmental information should be entered.

IRMNG, the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera, was commenced in 2006 as an initiative of the Australian OBIS Node (OBIS Australia) following an analysis of the taxonomic names management needs of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). The main objectives were to produce a hierarchical classification of all life, both extant and fossil, to at least generic level (and to species as data were readily available) and to provide a tool to distinguish marine from nonmarine, and extant from fossil taxa. Over its first 10 years of operation IRMNG has acquired almost 487,000 of an estimated 510,000 published genus names (including both valid names and synonyms) in addition to almost 1.8 million species names, of which 1.3 million are considered valid. Throughout this time IRMNG data have been available for public query via a dedicated web interface based at CSIRO in Australia, as well as being supplied as bulk downloads for use by a range of global biodiversity projects. Over the period 2014-2016 responsibility for the system has been passed to the Data Centre Division of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Belgium, which is continuing the maintenance and development of IRMNG at its new web location, www.irmng.org . With its present estimated holdings of >95% of all published genus names (plus associated authorities and years of publication) across all taxonomic domains, including fossil as well as extant taxa, within an internally consistent taxonomic hierarchy, IRMNG is at present uniquely placed to provide an overview of “all life” to at least generic level, to permit the discovery of trends in publication of genera through time, to provide preliminary information on the marine vs. nonmarine and extant vs. fossil status of the taxa concerned, and to generate lists of both unique and non-unique names (homonyms sensu lato ) for the benefit of users of biodiversity data.

Recognition of the threats to biodiversity and its importance to society has led to calls for globally coordinated sampling of trends in marine ecosystems. As a step to defining such efforts, we review current methods of collecting and managing marine biodiversity data. A fundamental component of marine biodiversity is knowing what, where, and when species are present. However, monitoring methods are invariably biased in what taxa, ecological guilds, and body sizes they collect. In addition, the data need to be placed, and/or mapped, into an environmental context. Thus a suite of methods will be needed to encompass representative components of biodiversity in an ecosystem. Some sampling methods can damage habitat and kill species, including unnecessary bycatch. Less destructive alternatives are preferable, especially in conservation areas, such as photography, hydrophones, tagging, acoustics, artificial substrata, light-traps, hook and line, and live-traps. Here we highlight examples of operational international sampling programmes and data management infrastructures, notably the Continuous Plankton Recorder, Reef Life Survey, and detection of Harmful Algal Blooms and MarineGEO. Data management infrastructures include the World Register of Marine Species for species nomenclature and attributes, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System for distribution data, Marine Regions for maps, and Global Marine Environmental Datasets for global environmental data. Existing national sampling programmes, such as fishery trawl surveys and intertidal surveys, may provide a global perspective if their data can be integrated to provide useful information. Less utilised and emerging sampling methods, such as artificial substrata, light-traps, microfossils and eDNA also hold promise for sampling the less studied components of biodiversity. All of these initiatives need to develop international standards and protocols, and long-term plans for their governance and support. Published Open access. Paper uploaded to ResearchGate by M Costello Refereed Current 14.2 14.A Phytoplankton biomass and diversity Zooplankton biomass and diversity Fish abundance and distribution Microbe biomass and diversity Best Practice Handbook

Scientific exploration of marine cave environments and anchialine ecosystems over recent decades has led to outstanding discoveries of novel taxa, increasing our knowledge of biodiversity. However, biological research on underwater caves has taken place only in a few areas of the world and relevant information remains fragmented in isolated publications and databases. This fragmentation makes assessing the conservation status of marine cave species especially problematic, and this issue should be addressed urgently given the stresses resulting from planned and rampant development in the coastal zone worldwide. The goal of the World Register of marine Cave Species (WoRCS) initiative is to create a comprehensive taxonomic and ecological database of known species from marine caves and anchialine systems worldwide and to present this as a Thematic Species Database (TSD) of the World Register of marine Species (WoRMS). WoRCS will incorporate ecological data (e.g., type of environment, salinity regimes, and cave zone) as well as geographical information on the distribution of species in cave and anchialine environments. Biodiversity data will be progressively assembled from individual database sources at regional, national or local levels, as well as from literature sources (estimate: >20,000 existing records of cave-dwelling species scattered in several databases). Information will be organized in the WoRCS database following a standard glossary based on existing terminology. Cave-related information will be managed by the WoRCS thematic editors with all data dynamically linked to WoRMS and its team of taxonomic editors. In order to mobilize data into global biogeographic databases, a Gazetteer of the Marine and Anchialine Caves of the World will be established. The presence records of species could be eventually georeferenced for submission to the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) and constitute an important dataset for biogeographical and climate change studies on marine caves and anchialine systems.

Dispersal plays a key role to connect populations and, if limited, is one of the main processes to maintain and generate regional biodiversity. According to neutral theories of molecular evolution and biodiversity, dispersal limitation of propagules and population stochasticity are integral to shaping both genetic and community structure. We conducted a parallel analysis of biological connectivity at genetic and community levels in marine groups with different dispersal traits. We compiled large data sets of population genetic structure (98 benthic macroinvertebrate and 35 planktonic species) and biogeographic data (2193 benthic macroinvertebrate and 734 planktonic species). We estimated dispersal distances from population genetic data (i.e., FST vs. geographic distance) and from β-diversity at the community level. Dispersal distances ranked the biological groups in the same order at both genetic and community levels, as predicted by organism dispersal ability and seascape connectivity: macrozoobenthic species without dispersing larvae, followed by macrozoobenthic species with dispersing larvae and plankton (phyto- and zooplankton). This ranking order is associated with constraints to the movement of macrozoobenthos within the seabed compared with the pelagic habitat. We showed that dispersal limitation similarly determines the connectivity degree of communities and populations, supporting the predictions of neutral theories in marine biodiversity patterns., RADIALES (IEO)

For seven years, village-based recorders monitored fish catches and water levels in seven floodplain-associated lakes of the Lower Rufiji, Tanzania. The lakes differ in the number of days and volume of inflows from the river, and thus provide a natural experiment to explore the links between catch composition, income per hour of fishing (IPHF) and hydrological connectivity, and to analyse the response of the users. The fishers adapt their fishing mode and equipment to achieve a rather constant IPHF of between 0.2 and 0.8 US$/fisher/hour. In situations of low connectivity, during a series of drought years, the less well-connected lakes lost many species and became a virtual monoculture of Oreochromis urolepis. Only in one extreme case was average fish size significantly reduced, indicating a high fishing pressure. Catch was therefore highly resilient to shifts toward illegal, non-selective and active fishing techniques. Fish diversity and lake productivity were quickly re-established when the larg...

A large-scale database concerning benthic copepods from the Arctic, Baltic Sea, North Sea, British Isles, Adriatic Sea and Crete was compiled to assess species richness, biodiversity, communities, ecological range size and biogeographical patterns. The Adriatic showed the highest evenness and the most species-rich communities. Assemblages from the North Sea, British Isles, Baltic and Crete had a lower evenness. The British Isles were characterised by impoverished communities. The ecological specificity of copepod species showed two diverging trends: higher specificity of species in more diverse assemblages was observed in the Adriatic, North Sea and Baltic. A uniformly high species specificity disregarding sample diversity was found on Crete and in the British Isles. Benthic copepod communities showed distinct patterns that clearly fit the predefined geographical regions. Communities were distinguishable and β-diversity was found to be high around Europe, indicating a high species turnover on the scale of this investigation. The British Isles and the North Sea were found to be faunistic links to the Baltic and the Arctic.

Physical disturbance is a key factor in controlling the spatial and temporal composition of shallow-water benthic communities. Like shallow waters, deeper waters are increasingly subject to a range of anthropogenic disturbances, which can lead to significant alterations in sedimentation patterns. These alterations often exceed naturally occurring changes. We used a combined analysis of six independent data sets arising from large-scale field surveys and small-scale laboratory experiments to investigate the effects of seabed disturbance on nematode communities. Disturbance response was documented as a function of disturbance type (coastal development, dredged material disposal, bottom trawling, glacial fjord) and intensity (low, medium, high). Natural and man-induced seabed disturbance exerted differential effects on exposed populations, generating changes in the taxonomic (genus) and functional (feeding type) attributes of their assemblages. The genus composition of nematode assemblages from geographically separate seas converged with increased level of various types of man-made disturbance. Assemblages present along a gradient of natural disturbance in a glacial fjord followed an opposite response vector, suggesting that community changes induced by anthropogenic activities, or experimental treatments simulating the principal impacts of these, inherently differ from disturbance of natural origin. Changes in trophic diversity and structure were primarily driven by factors confounded with physical disturbance, such as metal contamination. Coupling the results of analyses at multiple scales proved a useful means of providing deeper insights into the general response of ecological communities to environmental change.

This paper reviews the utility and availability of biological and ecological traits for marine species so as to prioritise the development of a world database on marine species traits. In addition, the ‘status’ of species for conservation, that is, whether they are introduced or invasive, of fishery or aquaculture interest, harmful, or used as an ecological indicator, were reviewed because these attributes are of particular interest to society. Whereas traits are an enduring characteristic of a species and/or population, a species status may vary geographically and over time. Criteria for selecting traits were that they could be applied to most taxa, were easily available, and their inclusion would result in new research and/or management applications. Numerical traits were favoured over categorical. Habitat was excluded as it can be derived from a selection of these traits. Ten traits were prioritized for inclusion in the most comprehensive open access database on marine species (World Register of Marine Species), namely taxonomic classification, environment, geography, depth, substratum, mobility, skeleton, diet, body size and reproduction. These traits and statuses are being added to the database and new use cases may further subdivide and expand upon them.

The European Ocean Biogeographic Information System—EurOBIS—is an integrated data system developed by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for the EU Network of Excellence “Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning” (MarBEF) in 2004. Its principle aims are to centralise the largely scattered biogeographical data on marine species collected by European institutions and to make these quality-controlled data freely available and easily accessible. It is in essence a distributed system in which individual datasets go through a series of quality control procedures before they are integrated into one large consolidated database. EurOBIS is freely available online at www.eurobis.org, where marine biogeographical data—with a focus on taxonomy, temporal and spatial distribution—can be consulted and downloaded for analyses. Over the last 6 years, EurOBIS has collected 228 datasets contributed by more than 75 institutes, representing over 13.6 million distribution records of which almost 12.5 million records are species level identifications. It is now the largest online searchable public source of European marine biological data, holding biogeographical information on 26,801 species and 9,221 genera. EurOBIS acts as the European node of OBIS, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System of the Census of Marine Life (CoML). EurOBIS shares its data with OBIS, which in its turn shares its content with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This article describes the status of the European Ocean Biogeographic Information System, identifies data gaps, possible applications, uses and limitations. It also formulates a strategy for the growth and improvement of the system and wants to appeal for more contributions.