Abstract:
The Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ) is a field project of the Census of
Marine Life (see
http://www.CoML.org ). CMarZ will work toward a taxonomically
comprehensive assessment of biodiversity of animal plankton throughout the
world ocean. The project goal is to produce accurate and complete information
on zooplankton species diversity, biomass,
... biogeographical distribution,
genetic diversity, and community structure. Our taxonomic focus is the animals
that drift with ocean currents throughout their lives. This assemblage
currently includes ~6,800 described species in fifteen phyla; our expectation
is that at least that many new species will be discovered as a result of our
efforts. The census will encompass unique marine environments and those likely
to be inhabited by endemic and undescribed zooplankton species.
A distributed database - fully integrated with and searchable from the Ocean
Biogeographical Information System (OBIS) portal - contains species-level,
specimen-based, geo-referenced entries.
Molecular analysis will include determining a DNA barcode (i.e., reference DNA
sequence) for each species; describing genetic diversity and structure of
populations and species, identifying cryptic species, and reconstructing their
evolutionary histories. 
