over two-thirds of our planet is covered
by ocean and yet most of its inhabitants
are strangers to us Oh scientist may
have identified only a tiny percentage
of the world’s marine species but now
researchers and volunteers from around
the globe are counting on an
unprecedented project to discover more
called the census of marine life it’s an
attempt to assess marine biodiversity
past present and future to contribute to
this ambitious task the Canadian Centre
for marine biodiversity is leading some
research in areas they call discovery
corridors it’s a relatively small patch
of ocean given the size of the planet
but the corridor still stretches 500
miles from the coast an area are larger
than the state of Maine Paul snellgrove
one of the principal scientist on a
recent mission explains we try to tackle
everything at once then it seems really
overwhelming so what we’re trying to do
here is to focus biodiversity research
on one geographic region in order to get
a better handle on our understanding of
biodiversity for at least that one
geographic region of the world counting
all the marine life here is a massive
job but luckily scientists have a
helping hand a remotely operated
underwater survey vehicle named ropos
operated by the Canadian scientific
submersible facility it’s special
pressure resistant design allows
researchers to see what’s happening
8,000 feet below the ocean surface far
deeper than any previous explorations in
the corridor ropo serves as the
researchers eyes and ears recording
video and still images it’s dual lasers
work as an undersea measuring stick
while a robotic arm collect samples
allowing biologists like Peter Lawton to
get their own hands on what r 0 posts
discovers I can do the same kind of work
that I would do myself either walking
along Shore collecting individual
organisms as I did it as child I can do
that now with these technologies in deep
water environments ropos is a well
equipped robot with tools that vacuum
snip and dig into the ocean floor so
what we’re trying to do is to sample the
seafloor using various coring devices
which we push into the sediment we bring
them back to the surface and then we
take the sediments out of these and
examine them for the organisms that live
in the sediments ropos is also giving us
a better understanding of how much of an
impact humans have on life far beneath
the ocean surface for the last 15 years
we’ve been studying the effects of human
activities on the scene that habitat and
communities and one of the major lessons
we’ve learned is the importance of
really understanding the communities in
their natural state and this is a
program which will supply this
information about the seabed over
variety of habitats by taking a close-up
detailed look at one small part of our
vast oceans scientists hope not only to
learn how to protect the species we know
about but also those yet to be
discovered
sponsored by National Geographic mission
programs taking science and exploration
into the new millennium
by ocean and yet most of its inhabitants
are strangers to us Oh scientist may
have identified only a tiny percentage
of the world’s marine species but now
researchers and volunteers from around
the globe are counting on an
unprecedented project to discover more
called the census of marine life it’s an
attempt to assess marine biodiversity
past present and future to contribute to
this ambitious task the Canadian Centre
for marine biodiversity is leading some
research in areas they call discovery
corridors it’s a relatively small patch
of ocean given the size of the planet
but the corridor still stretches 500
miles from the coast an area are larger
than the state of Maine Paul snellgrove
one of the principal scientist on a
recent mission explains we try to tackle
everything at once then it seems really
overwhelming so what we’re trying to do
here is to focus biodiversity research
on one geographic region in order to get
a better handle on our understanding of
biodiversity for at least that one
geographic region of the world counting
all the marine life here is a massive
job but luckily scientists have a
helping hand a remotely operated
underwater survey vehicle named ropos
operated by the Canadian scientific
submersible facility it’s special
pressure resistant design allows
researchers to see what’s happening
8,000 feet below the ocean surface far
deeper than any previous explorations in
the corridor ropo serves as the
researchers eyes and ears recording
video and still images it’s dual lasers
work as an undersea measuring stick
while a robotic arm collect samples
allowing biologists like Peter Lawton to
get their own hands on what r 0 posts
discovers I can do the same kind of work
that I would do myself either walking
along Shore collecting individual
organisms as I did it as child I can do
that now with these technologies in deep
water environments ropos is a well
equipped robot with tools that vacuum
snip and dig into the ocean floor so
what we’re trying to do is to sample the
seafloor using various coring devices
which we push into the sediment we bring
them back to the surface and then we
take the sediments out of these and
examine them for the organisms that live
in the sediments ropos is also giving us
a better understanding of how much of an
impact humans have on life far beneath
the ocean surface for the last 15 years
we’ve been studying the effects of human
activities on the scene that habitat and
communities and one of the major lessons
we’ve learned is the importance of
really understanding the communities in
their natural state and this is a
program which will supply this
information about the seabed over
variety of habitats by taking a close-up
detailed look at one small part of our
vast oceans scientists hope not only to
learn how to protect the species we know
about but also those yet to be
discovered
sponsored by National Geographic mission
programs taking science and exploration
into the new millennium
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