The exploration of marine biodiversity is still in its infancy, due basically to the technological challenges of deep-sea deployments and the fact that marine life is dominated by microscopic organisms with a metabolic repertoire far beyond that of their terrestrial counterparts. For these reasons too, it continues to yield surprises, with the most remote, extreme habitats also the richest in findings.

This book draws its contents from the first in a series of debates organised jointly by the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) and the BBVA Foundation around the work of the Cap Salines Coastal Research Station (Mallorca, Balearic Islands). In its pages, leading international experts review the current state of knowledge concerning marine biodiversity, the efforts being made to secure a complete inventory of the planet’s marine species and the technological and scientific developments that are facilitating deep-sea exploration, with potentially important benefits for our society.

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• Contents
• Introduction: Carlos M. Duarte
• Chapter 1: Damià Jaume and Carlos M. Duarte
• Chapter 2: Philippe Bouchet
• Chapter 3: Eva Ramírez Llodra and David S.M. Billett
• Chapter 4: Geoff Boxshall
• Chapter 5: J. Mark Cock et al.
• About the authors