Marine Biogeography: Mapping Where Sea Life Lives, and Why It Matters

Before you can decide where to put a fish farm or an offshore energy facility, you need to know what lives there already. Marine biogeography supplies that answer. It is the study of marine species, where their habitats are, and how living things relate to their environment — and its maps are how that knowledge reaches the people planning the use of the sea.

Mapping the bottom and what lives on it

Much of the work starts on the seafloor. Biogeographers map benthic habitats — what occurs on the bottom of a body of water — and study how the environment and the organisms living in it affect each other. Building an ecosystem map of a habitat on the seafloor is a key part of the field, and a tricky one. The result is information that helps protect and conserve marine resources.

The role of GIS

Marine biogeographers often rely on Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, in their research on marine animals, plants and habitats. Scientists and GIS specialists produce map-based data describing where living marine resources are, how they live, and how they connect to human communities.

From maps to decisions

State and federal planners use these tools and the information behind them to:

• decide where aquaculture sites and alternative energy facilities should go
• protect fisheries and coral spawning areas
• weigh possible scenarios, such as new development, that may or may not affect the environment

Looking ahead

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science research the distribution and ecology of marine plants and animals in order to predict future trends. Their surveys, maps and reports assess the condition of ecosystems, anticipate changes in the environment, and help judge how people's social and economic needs can be met alongside them.

Sources

Based on "What is marine biogeography?" from NOAA's National Ocean Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain.