Biodiversity's Big Wet Secret: The Global Distribution of Marine Biological Records Reveals Chronic Under-Exploration of the Deep Pelagic Ocean
Figure 2
Global distribution within the water column of recorded marine biodiversity.
The horizontal axis splits the oceans into five zones on the basis of depth (see Table 1), with the width of each zone on this axis proportional to its global surface area. The vertical axis is ocean depth, on a linear scale. This means that area on the graph is proportional to volume of ocean. For instance, in the deep sea each cell of 200m depth represents c. 3.5×106 km3 (see cell drawn separately for scale). The number of records in each cell (each unique combination of sample and bottom depth, following the scheme in Table 1) is standardised to the volume of water represented by that cell, and then log10-transformed. The inset shows in greater detail the continental shelf and slope, where the majority of records are found.