Federal agencies launch ocean biodiversity monitoring network

Several federal agencies are joining up to launch an ocean biodiversity monitoring network, according to the Summit County Citizens Voice. The network will begin at four pilot sites sitting in different marine environments.

Those include plots in the Florida Keys, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. The trial sites will use observations that are already available, like satellite measurements, and a few will integrate new monitoring techniques like DNA sampling to get snapshots of biodiversity in a region.

National marine sanctuaries are ideal for testing the pilot sites, according to officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, because they contain a large range of environments and coastal communities. The sanctuaries can help prove the network’s worth for exploring little-known interactions between physical environments and species depending on them.