History of Marine Animal Populations

The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) project was part of the larger Census of Marine Life, an international research effort from 2000 to 2010. HMAP specifically focused on surveying historical data to understand human impacts on ocean populations. Marine biology, the science studying sea life, explores how ocean phenomena influence the distribution and dynamics of marine organisms. Factors like food availability, predation, and oceanographic features affect larval survival and, consequently, adult population sizes. Human activities, such as fishing, have historically had significant impacts, leading to the decline and even extinction of certain marine populations, like the Atlantic gray whale.12345