Asia-Pacific MBON

AP-MBON furthers the development of marine biodiversity science in the Asia – Pacific region, as a sub-group of the MBON and Asia-Pacific BON networks of GEO BON. Its Secretariat is hosted at GODAC in JAMSTEC and can be contacted to: j-obis_jam@jamstec.go.jp . To join, please sign up to GEO BON here , and then select AP-MBON as your group of interest.

The geographic scope of AP-MBON extends from pole to pole through Asia and the western Pacific, including the Pacific islands and the Indian Ocean. It includes the deepest ocean trenches, and the Coral Triangle, the highest density of marine species on Earth, as well as the highest densities of human populations.

AP-MBON activities focus on networking researchers in the region, encouraging staff and student exchanges between laboratories, and fostering a community of practice in marine biodiversity monitoring. We welcome specialist subgroups, such as focusing on particular ecosystems (e.g., coral reefs), biomes (e.g., seagrass), habitats, taxa (e.g., seaweeds), and thematic topics (e.g., invasive and threatened species, marine reserves). Our vision is to enable reporting of trends in marine biodiversity from local to regional scales to better inform society of the state of biodiversity and how to benefit from and conserve it.