The Ecological and Economic Value of Ocean Biodiversity

Navigating the Future VI, written by European marine science experts from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, addresses how the ocean is affected by biodiversity loss. The report notes that assessing these losses and their impacts is challenging, as marine species are less well-documented than land species.

This publication provides scientific insights to inform future ocean and sea research for governments, policymakers, and funders. With COP16 on biodiversity currently underway in Cali, Colombia, it is an opportune moment to consider the importance of understanding ocean biodiversity.

Climate change is causing the Ocean to warm up. This forces species to move to find conditions to which they are adapted. But we do not fully understand the implications of these movements. When species move to new habitats, they might spread microorganisms that could cause an epidemic amongst the native species, or conversely, the new arrivals could be susceptible to suffering an epidemic themselves. To avoid such epidemic events, which could lead to local extinctions, we need to understand far more about pathogenic microorganisms and where they live.

Carlos Pereira Dopazo, Study Lead Author, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

Critical Research Questions

The NFVI Ocean and Biodiversity chapter outlines current research topics on ocean biodiversity and its changes as Earth’s environment shifts. It suggests researchers focus on the following questions:

• How can new genomic techniques and traditional taxonomic approaches be combined to accelerate species identification and broaden biodiversity monitoring?
• Where are pathogenic marine microorganisms found, and could they pose a future threat to marine animals?
• As the ocean warms and the climate shifts, where will marine species, such as commercially valuable fish, relocate, and how can human conflicts arising from these relocations be minimized?
• What emerging human activities will affect marine biodiversity, and how can these threats be mitigated?
• What effects will invasive species have on natural marine ecosystems?
• Conservation and restoration of marine species and ecosystems are costly; what are the long-term societal and economic implications of inaction?