Biological Diversity in Marine Environments
Marine environments are considered more biologically diverse than terrestrial environments. Thirty-two different animal phyla are represented in the oceans of the 33 recognized phyla. Fifteen different phyla are represented only in marine environments while only 1 is elusively terrestrial. Marine phyla also contain functionally unique organisms such as filter feeders and sessile organisms which have no terrestrial counterpart. Also, marine autotrophs are more diverse than their terrestrial counterparts. Marine autotrophs are believed to stem from at least 8 ancient clades while terrestrial organisms mainly stem from one clade, Embyrophyta. Marine environments may contain over 80% of the world's plant and animal species. The diversity of coral reefs can be extraordinary with species diversity reaching 1000 species per meter squared. The greatest marine tropical biodiversity is reported to be in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
Read more about this topic: Marine Pharmacognosy
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