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The oceans cover over 70% of our planet. They are host to a biodiversity of tremendous wealth. Its preservation is now a global priority featuring in several international conventions and a confirmed objective of European policies and national strategies. Understanding the dynamics and the uses of the marine biodiversity is a genuine scientific challenge. Fourteen international experts have got together and identified five priority research themes to address the problem, based on analysing the state of knowledge.

Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
The importance of marine biodiversity
Key features
Hierarchical components
The impacts of human activities on marine biodiversity
The strategic values of research
Status and trends
How many marine species are there?
Taxonomic records
Cryptic species
The drive to identify new species
The "taxonomic impediment"
Species under pressure
Extinct species
Endangered species
Ecosystems under pressure: the deep sea
Spatial patterning of characteristics
Temporal patterns
Conceptualising biodiversity
Conceptual frameworks for relationships between biodiversity and human societies. Choice of model framework
Measuring biodiversity
Biodiversity as a macroscopic descriptor in the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)
Drivers of changes in biodiversity and its uses
Environmental drivers: a working framework
Integrated scenarios and policies
Policies and decision support
Developing scenarios
Quantitative methods, models and integrated assessment
Research needs
The framework: environmental research
Naturalistic dimensions
Human dimensions of research
Developing modelling: a summarising approach
Sources
References
Databases
Abbreviations and acronyms
Group of experts