title: An overview of marine biodiversity in United States waters.
abstract: Marine biodiversity of the United States (U.S.) is extensively documented, but data assembled by the United States National Committee for the Census of Marine Life demonstrate that even the most complete taxonomic inventories are based on records scattered in space and time. The best-known taxa are those of commercial importance. Body size is directly correlated with knowledge of a species, and knowledge also diminishes with distance from shore and depth. Measures of biodiversity other than species diversity, such as ecosystem and genetic diversity, are poorly documented. Threats to marine biodiversity in the U.S. are the same as those for most of the world: overexploitation of living resources; reduced water quality; coastal development; shipping; invasive species; rising temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide in the surface ocean, and other changes that may be consequences of global change, including shifting currents; increased number and size of hypoxic or anoxic areas; and increased number and duration of harmful algal blooms. More information must be obtained through field and laboratory research and monitoring that involve innovative sampling techniques (such as genetics and acoustics), but data that already exist must be made accessible. And all data must have a temporal component so trends can be identified. As data are compiled, techniques must be developed to make certain that scales are compatible, to combine and reconcile data collected for various purposes with disparate gear, and to automate taxonomic changes. Information on biotic and abiotic elements of the environment must be interactively linked. Impediments to assembling existing data and collecting new data on marine biodiversity include logistical problems as well as shortages in finances and taxonomic expertise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America. fautin@ku.edu
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fautin
authors.forename: Penelope
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dalton
authors.forename: Lewis S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Incze
authors.forename: Jo-Ann C
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: Clarence
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pautzke
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sandifer
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sedberry
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Tunnell
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: Russell E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Brainard
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brodeur
authors.forename: Lucius G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Eldredge
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moretzsohn
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Vroom
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wainstein
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wolff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002965:Classification; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D014481:United States