In just six weeks, the final results of the 10-year-long Census of Marine Life will be announced. As a lead-up to that Oct. 4, 2010. event, CML researchers published on Aug. 2, 2010, in the journal PLoS ONE, summaries of marine diversity in eight settings around the globe. In coming weeks, another 17 summaries are scheduled to be added. The 25 settings include five off U.S. shores, three off Canadian shores, and the Caribbean.

One of the discoveries was that the Gulf of Mexico is the fifth most diverse marine setting in the world for known species. This baseline data should prove useful as researchers continue to investigate the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf.

• "Marine Biodiversity and Biogeography — Regional Comparisons of Global Issues" [2] (includes the first 10 papers, including two global overviews and one paper each for the US and the Caribbean)
• CML press release, [3] Aug. 2, 2010.
• CML main page. [4]