Patricia Miloslavich

• Ph. D. in Oceanography / Universite du Quebec a Rimouski
• Managing Director at Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research (SCOR)

Since 1970, there has been an overall decline in wildlife populations in the order of 52%. Freshwater species populations have declined by 76%; species populations in Central and South America have declined by 83%; and in the Indo-Pacific by 67%. These are often not complete extinctions, but large declines in the numbers of animals in each species,...

We review the current knowledge of the biodiversity of the ocean as well as the levels of decline and threat for species and habitats. The lack of understanding of the distribution of life in the ocean is identified as a significant barrier to restoring its biodiversity and health. We explore why the science of taxonomy has failed to deliver knowle...

The ability of coastal nations to manage their coastal and marine environments is vital in the development and maintenance of national blue economies following the 2030 Agenda. Thus, capacity development (CD) is an important priority area to strengthen education and training for various stakeholders to help create an appropriately trained workforce...

Biological ocean science has a long history; it goes back millennia, whereas the related data services have emerged in the recent digital era of the past decades. To understand where we come from—and why data services are so important—we will start by taking you back to the rise in the study of marine biology—marine biodiversity—and its key players...

The Southern Ocean plays a central role in the Earth System by connecting the Earth’s ocean basins, and it is a crucial link between the deep ocean, surface ocean and atmosphere. Hence, the ongoing changes in the Southern Ocean impact global climate, rates of sea level rise, biogeochemical cycles and ecological systems. Yet, understanding of the ca...

Maintaining healthy, productive ecosystems in the face of pervasive and accelerating human impacts including climate change requires globally coordinated and sustained observations of marine biodiversity. Global coordination is predicated on an understanding of the scope and capacity of existing monitoring programs, and the extent to which they use...

Marine biodiversity is a fundamental characteristic of our planet that depends on and influences climate, water quality, and many ocean state variables. It is also at the core of ecosystem services that can make or break economic development in any region. Our purpose is to highlight the need for marine biological observations to inform science and...

The Global Harmful Algal Blooms (GlobalHAB, www.global hab.info) Program is aimed at fostering international cooperative research directed toward improving the prediction of harmful algal bloom (HAB) events in aquatic ecosystems, and providing sound knowledge for policy- and decision-making to manage and mitigate HAB impacts in a changing planet. G...

In this chapter, we review evidence available for assessing progress towards meeting major international objectives related to nature and NCP. We focus specifically on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and relevant SDGs, as well as relevant objectives of other agreements. This includes an assessment of both regional and distributional patterns as well...

Acquiring marine biodiversity data is difficult, costly, and time-consuming, making it challenging to understand the distribution and abundance of life in the ocean. Historically, approaches to biodiversity sampling over large geographic scales have advocated for equivalent effort across multiple sites to minimize comparative bias. When effort cann...

Large-scale coastal monitoring programs that focus on long-term inter-annual and seasonal community variability are rare mostly because they are costly, logistically complex and require coordination by groups of dedicated scientists. The Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) is currently developing a regional collaboration throughout the A...

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Aim: We evaluated whether patterns of species diversity (α, β and γ) of rocky shore assemblages followed latitudinal gradients (i.e. LDGs) along the South American coasts, and tested hypotheses related to potential processes sustaining or disrupting the expected LDG pattern at various spatial scales. Location: Coasts of South America. Taxon: Macroa...

The High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy (https://oceanpanel.org/) has commissioned a series of “Blue Papers” to explore pressing challenges at the nexus of the ocean and the economy. This paper is part of a series of 16 papers to be published between November 2019 and October 2020. It addresses how multiple human impacts will impact bi...

The time is now For decades, scientists have been raising calls for societal changes that will reduce our impacts on nature. Though much conservation has occurred, our natural environment continues to decline under the weight of our consumption. Humanity depends directly on the output of nature; thus, this decline will affect us, just as it does th...

Coordinating the Implementation of Mangrove and Seagrass Essential Observations: A joint GOOS/MBON community outreach workshop to implement EOV/EBVs (Sea Plants Workshop), Consortium for Ocean Leadership; Washington, D.C., 10–11 June 2019

The health of the ocean, central to human well-being, has now reached a critical point. Most fish stocks are overexploited, climate change and increased dissolved carbon dioxide are changing ocean chemistry and disrupting species throughout food webs, and the fundamental capacity of the ocean to regulate the climate has been altered. However, key t...

Knowledge on the status and trends in marine biodiversity, and associated drivers of biodiversity change across the Americas is sparse and geographically uneven. International cooperation is needed to fill observational gaps at these geographic scales and provide information to satisfy policy targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a...

Coral reefs are exceptionally biodiverse and human dependence on their ecosystem services is high. Reefs experience significant direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures, and provide a sensitive indicator of coastal ocean health, climate change, and ocean acidification, with associated implications for society. Monitoring coral reef status and tr...

Advances in ocean observing technologies and modeling provide the capacity to revolutionize the management of living marine resources. While traditional fisheries management approaches like single-species stock assessments are still common, a global effort is underway to adopt ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) approaches. These approaches...

The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and its partners have worked together over the past decade to break down barriers between open-ocean and coastal observing, between scientific disciplines, and between operational and research institutions. Here we discuss some GOOS successes and challenges from the past decade, and present ideas for moving...

The Southern Ocean is disproportionately important in its effect on the Earth system, impacting climatic, biogeochemical, and ecological systems, which makes recent observed changes to this system cause for global concern. The enhanced understanding and improvements in predictive skill needed for understanding and projecting future states of the So...

The diversity of life in the sea is critical to the health of ocean ecosystems that support living resources and therefore essential to the economic, nutritional, recreational, and health needs of billions of people. Yet there is evidence that the biodiversity of many marine habitats is being altered in response to a changing climate and human acti...

Development of global ocean observing capacity for the biological EOVs is on the cusp of a step-change. Current capacity to automate data collection and processing and to integrate the resulting data streams with complementary data, openly available as FAIR data, is certain to dramatically increase the amount and quality of information and knowledg...

In coastal waters around the world, the dominant primary producers are benthic macrophytes, including seagrasses and macroalgae, that provide habitat structure and food for diverse and abundant biological communities and drive ecosystem processes. Seagrass meadows and macroalgal forests play key roles for coastal societies, contributing to fishery...

Identifying the Backbone of a Global Observing System for Marine Life and Planning Its Implementation for the Next Decade; Santa Barbara, California, 5–7 March 2019

In recognition of the importance of nature, its contributions to people and role in underpinning sustainable development, governments adopted a Strategic Plan on Biodiversity 2011-2020 through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) containing 20 ‘Aichi Biodiversity Targets’ and integrated many of these into the Sustainable Development Goals (...

This report represents a critical assessment, the first in almost 15 years (since the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005) and the first ever carried out by an intergovernmental body, of the status and trends of the natural world, the social implications of these trends, their direct and indirect causes, and, importantly, the act...

In this paper we review the technologies available to make globally quantitative observations of particles in general—and plankton in particular—in the world oceans, and for sizes varying from sub-microns to centimeters. Some of these technologies have been available for years while others have only recently emerged. Use of these technologies is cr...

Planning the Implementation of a Global Long-Term Observing and Data Sharing Strategy for Macroalgal Communities; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 24–26 September 2018

Workshop on Developing an Implementation Plan for a Sustained, Multidisciplinary Global Observing System of Plankton Communities; Santa Cruz, California, 25–27 June 2018

Marine ecosystems have numerous benefits for human societies around the world and many policy initiatives now seek to maintain the health of these ecosystems. To enable wise decisions, up to date and accurate information on marine species and the state of the environment they live in is required. Moreover, this information needs to be openly access...

Sustained global ocean observations are needed to recognise, understand, and manage changes in marine biodiversity, resources and habitats, and to implement wise conservation and sustainable development strategies. To meet this need, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), a network of observing systems distributed around the world and coordinate...

Developing enduring capacity to monitor ocean life requires investing in people and their institutions to build infrastructure, ownership, and long-term support networks. International initiatives can enhance access to scientific data, tools and methodologies, and develop local expertise to use them, but without ongoing engagement may fail to have...

Oceanographers have an increasing responsibility to ensure that the outcomes of scientific research are conveyed to the policy-making sphere to achieve conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. Zooplankton monitoring projects have helped to increase our understanding of the processes by which marine ecosystems respond to climate chan...

A new Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR, http://www.scor-int.org/) working group has been formed, entitled SCOR WG-154 “Inte- gration of Plankton-Observing Sensor Systems to Existing Global Sampling Programs (P-OBS, http://www.scor-int.org/SCOR_WGs_WG154. htm.).” The working group (P-OBS WG) is review- ing biological sensing technologie...

Europe lacks a multi-purpose integrated biological ocean observing system. The Future Science Brief recommends building an integrated biological ocean observation system, while supporting current capacity. Europe needs a strategic vision to increase the relevant biological ocean observation capacity. We also need to bring together key stakeholders,...

Measurements of the status and trends of key indicators for the ocean and marine life are required to inform policy and management in the context of growing human uses of marine resources, coastal development, and climate change. Two synergistic efforts identify specific priority variables for monitoring: Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) through th...

Sustained observations of marine biodiversity and ecosystems focused on specific conservation and management problems are needed around the world to effectively mitigate or manage changes resulting from anthropogenic pressures. These observations, while complex and expensive, are required by the international scientific, governance and policy commu...

Recognition of the threats to biodiversity and its importance to society has led to calls for globally coordinated sampling of trends in marine ecosystems. As a step to defining such efforts, we review current methods of collecting and managing marine biodiversity data. A fundamental component of marine biodiversity is knowing what, where, and when...

An important ark clam (Arca zebra) artisanal fishery takes place in the east region of Venezuela. Besides the target species, trawling extracts a significant bycatch of several mollusk species including the gastropod Voluta musica, a threatened species according to the Venezuelan Red List of Endangered Species. In this paper we evaluate: 1) the com...

Antarctic benthos has been a main target in Antarctic research, but very few quantitative studies have been carried out in the littoral zone, which may be seasonally covered by macroalgae. In this work, we studied (1) cover and biomass of the macroalgae Iridaea cordata and Adenocystis utricularis, and (2) composition of macrobenthic assemblage asso...

Marine Benthos: Biology, Ecosystem Functions and Environmental Impact is a book dedicated to show a series of case studies about how benthic habitats are organized and how they function as a tool for any environmental impact studies. The present book documents how the natural condition of these communities is and aims to expand our present knowledg...

Rocky shores are areas of high diversity and productivity providing goods and services. Since humans are altering nature at an unprecedented rate, producing shifts in important parameters for life such as temperature, habitat availability, water quality, among others, it is expected that species will respond by changing their natural distributions...

This chapter provides baselines on what is currently known about the taxonomic, biogeographic, and conservation status of marine species using the world’s largest marine biodiversity database, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS; iobis.org). The ocean may be home to one million or more species, with 230,000 so far described by science....

Organizing, supporting and linking the world marine biodiversity research community - Volume 95 Issue 3 - Mark J. Costello, Philippe Archambault, Suchana Chavanich, Patricia Miloslavich, David M. Paterson, Siew-Moi Phang, Isabel Sousa Pinto, Annelies Pierrot-Bults, Sun Song, Eulogio H. Soto, Nils Chr. Stenseth, Tina N. Molodtsova, Michael Thorndyke

Voluta musica es un gasterópodo dioico endémico del Caribe sur. El TBT y el Cu, son potenciales causantes del imposex, fenómeno donde las hembras desarrollan un pene y/o vaso deferente. El objetivo fue determinar la incidencia de imposex en V. musica en el noreste de la Península de Araya. Se seleccionaron tres localidades y se captura-ron mensualm...

Voluta musica is a dioecious marine gastropod endemic of the South Caribbean. Tributyltin (TBT) and copper (Cu) are potential inducers of imposex, an endocrine disorder by which females develop a penis and/or vas deferens. The goal of this work was to determine the imposex incidence in V. musica populations from Northeastern Peninsula de Araya. For...

The order Amphipoda is one of the most diverse within Peracarids, and comprises 6 950 described marine species. Amphipod research in the Caribbean Sea began in the late 1 800s, but has increased significantly since 1 980. In this study, we analized the amphipod biodiversity (Caprellidea, Gammaridea, Hyperiidea, and Ingolfiellidea) of the Caribbean...

The order Amphipoda is one of the most diverse within Peracarids, and comprises 6950 described marine species. Amphipod research in the Caribbean Sea began in the late 1800s, but has increased significantly since 1980. In this study, we analized the amphipod biodiversity (Caprellidea, Gammaridea, Hyperiidea, and Ingolfiellidea) of the Caribbean Sea...

Gastropod assemblages from nearshore rocky habitats were studied over large spatial scales to (1) describe broad-scale patterns in assemblage composition, including patterns by feeding modes, (2) identify latitudinal pattern of biodiversity, i.e., richness and abundance of gastropods and/or regional hotspots, and (3) identify potential environmenta...

Abundance, size structure and fecundity of Voluta musica (Caenogastropoda: Volutidae) in three sites of the north coast of Araya Peninsula, Venezuela. Considering the intensive artisanal fishing activity and the consequent carrion discard found at Isla Caribe, in relation to other two sites with no intensive artisanal fishing activity, we expect di...

Considering the intensive artisanal fishing activity and the consequent carrion discard found at Isla Caribe, in relation to other two sites with no intensive artisanal fishing activity, we expect different effects on some features of V. musica life history (larger egg capsules, larger organisms, higher abundance of adult organisms). In this paper...

This study is aimed to be carried out in most countries of the entire South American continent. As of today, scientists from Colombia (Pacific coast), Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Chile have agreed to participate in this project.

This paper discusses the origin and development of the 10-year Census of Marine Life, describing the way in which a visionary idea developed into a program involving over 80 nations. The time was ripe to engage in a large-scale marine biodiversity program incorporating the newest technology for exploration, along with the traditional approach of re...

Relationships of diversity, distribution and abundance of benthic decapods in intertidal and shallow subtidal waters to 10 m depth are explored based on data obtained using a standardized protocol of globally-distributed samples. Results indicate that decapod species richness overall is low within the nearshore, typically ranging from one to six ta...

The size at sexual maturity, the developmental timing and biology, and the biochemical (protein, glycogen, and lipid) content of eggs and juveniles were determined in two female size groups of the buccinid Buccinum cyaneum. Males reach sexual maturity at a smaller size (27 mm in shell length) than females (37 mm). A total of 33 females spawned in t...

Sources of information used to estimate total number of marine species for different taxa of the Patagonian Shelf region of South America. (0.06 MB DOC)

Summary of literature sources on marine biodiversity for the non-coastal Brazilian deep-sea marine realms: (1) slope, (2) seamounts and oceanic islands, and (3) abyssal plains. (0.09 MB DOC)

Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within the Tropical West Atlantic region of South America. Sources of the reports: databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known (>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and current taxo...

Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within the Humboldt Current region of South America. Sources of the reports: databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known (>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and current taxonomic...

Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within the Patagonian Shelf region of South America. Sources of the reports: databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known (>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and current taxonomic...

Sources of information used to estimate total number of marine species for different taxa of the Tropical East Pacific region of South America. (0.05 MB DOC)

Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within the Tropical East Pacific region of South America. Sources of the reports: databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known (>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and current taxon...

Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within the Brazilian region of South America. Sources of the reports: databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known (>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and current taxonomic experti...

Major Brazilian cruises that have taken samples in the deep sea, including seamounts and abyssal plains. (0.06 MB DOC)