Evolution and Marine Biodiversity

Marine life adapts to the extreme and unique conditions deep in the ocean. Of the probably more than one million species in the oceans, at least four-fifths are completely unknown to science at the moment. Life originated 3 billion years ago and it took more than one billion years for complex cells to emerge into the life forms we know today. Looking at the marine organisms with eukaryotic cells, we see that the animals originated during the Cambrian explosion 560 million years ago. A heavy peak of diversity occurs in the tropics and in the deep ocean. Diversity is endangered by toxic and nutrient pollution, over-exploitation, global change with warming and acidification, construction of ports, and the invasive species. We face the sixth mass extinction of species due to anthropogenic influence. 

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