Marine Biodiversity - more animals on land or in the sea?

Episode 10: Marine Biodiversity

Life originated in the ocean and there are many more major groups of animals there than on land! For example echinoderms (starfish, urchins, etc.) only occur in the ocean.

Despite this, there are far more species on land (about 1.3 million), than in the sea (250,000).This is largely because the ocean is one large contiguous system, whereas the land is divided into thousands of separate ‘islands’, many of which have evolved their own endemic species.

Insects, which are by far the most diverse animal group (70% of all know species), are also almost completely absent from marine systems.

South Africa has about 13,000 described marine species, with fewer occuring on the west coast, and the most on the east coast.

Megan-Rose Francis:
Megan-Rose Francis is a marine conservationist and the operations manager for The Beach Co-op, an NPC that works to connect people, institutions and organisations to the ocean.

The Beach Co-op:
www.thebeachcoop.org/
www.instagram.com/thebeachco_op/

Explore The Shore Instagram:
www.instagram.com/explore_theshore

Filming: Sea Point, Western Cape, South Africa.

Subtitles are available in English.

00:00 Introduction
00:52 How does marine diversity compare to land (terrestrial)?
02:00 Oceans have more groups of animals!
02:46 Life and diversity on Land
03:18 Which has more species, the ocean or land?
04:08 Why there are more species on land than in the sea.
06:29 Diversity along the South African coast.
07:12 Species richness on the east vs west coast of South Africa.
09:13 Diversity along the rocky shores.
10:31 Why exploring the shore is so fun!