Biodiversity in tropical seas (BioTropic)

BioTropic is an open project dedicated to exploring marine diversity and evolutionary processes in tropical habitats. There are four primary tropical marine biogeographic regions: the eastern Atlantic coasts of West Africa, extending from Cape Verde to the Gulf of Guinea; the eastern Pacific Ocean, from Mexico to Ecuador; the tropical western Atlantic, spanning from the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil, including the Caribbean Sea; and the Indo-West Pacific, stretching from South Africa to French Polynesia. These fragile ecosystems are under severe threat from rising ocean temperatures, which risk causing the extinction of species before they are even documented. The University Museum of Bergen actively contributes to global biodiversity surveys in tropical regions, advancing scientific understanding of marine life and supporting conservation strategies.