Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML)
The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is a giant wind-driven mixing bowl of currents, moving organisms vertically and horizontally among the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Although Antarctic marine biodiversity is particularly valued for its relatively pristine state, its highly adapted character and sensitivity to environmental changes, it is still only partially known at the surface and virtually unknown at depth. Existing biodiversity information is widely scattered and not easily accessible. Integration will allow it to be correlated to other geospatial, environmental, climatic, oceanographic, ecotoxicological and genetic data to address environmental and/or scientific (e.g. evolutionary) questions as well as practical conservation issues.
The Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) will survey the cold Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica in an attempt to understand the biological diversity of this unique and poorly understood environment. It will focus its fieldwork during the International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007/08. Its bold objective is to study the evolution of life in Antarctic waters to determine how this has influenced the diversity of the present biota, and to use these observations to predict how it might respond to future change. The project will integrate knowledge across all regions, biomes, habitats and fields of study to strengthen our knowledge of ecosystem dynamics in this high latitude, frozen ocean system, and only through a multi-scale level of investigation will a better understanding of the diversity and status of Antarctica’s marine life be obtained.
For more information, visit the CAML website: http://www.caml.aq/
CAML Project Team
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Related Links
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)
International Polar Year
Reports and Other Documents
CAML Standardized Research Protocols, January 2005
