Atlas of ocean life unveiled by Saudi Arabian university – The National

Atlas of ocean life unveiled by Saudi Arabian university – The National

An extensive catalogue of ocean life has been unveiled by university researchers in Saudi Arabia.The index provides a baseline for monitoring the effects of global warming, pollution and other human-induced changes to marine environments, enabling scientists to form targeted research questions about specific habitats and microbial classes.It also offers a new perspective to predict the consequences of changes driven by climate change, such as ocean warming, deoxygenation and acidification.The comprehensive database, named the KMAP Global Ocean Gene Catalogue 1.0, is a world first, mapping the genetic blueprint of a myriad marine organisms, predominantly microbes.“The [atlas] is a leap towards understanding the ocean’s full diversity, containing more than 317 million gene groups from marine organisms around the world,” said lead author Elisa Laiolo of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.“The catalogue focuses on marine microbes, which greatly impact human lives through their influence on the ocean’s health and the Earth’s climate.”Prof Carlos Manuel Duarte, a marine ecologist at Kaust and the study’s senior author, highlighted the significance of the atlas's potential in addressing climate change.He emphasised its ability to pinpoint genes that could be instrumental in the CO2 reduction processes. “[It does so] by