The seafloor is our planet’s most biodiverse realm. It is in the sea that life on earth began over 3.5 billion years ago. It is in the sea where 34 of the 36 known phyla of animals remain to this day, 15 of which are exclusive to the world’s oceans. And it is in the sea where myriad opportunities await.
The commercial potential of marine biodiversity is changing as technology evolves and we seek new services from our oceans beyond the current focus on food and energy supply and tourism. One new frontier lies in the novel biological systems and chemical pathways developed by marine creatures to survive extreme physical environments and ruthless biological competition in the ocean.
“Biodiscovery” is the search for these attributes so they can be developed as new products, including pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals, tools for environmental remediation, or more efficient and less polluting industrial processes.
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