The Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS) has three main objectives:
1) Provide taxonomic data to various Antarctic biodiversity information systems.
2) Establish a benchmark of current taxonomic knowledge of Southern Ocean biodiversity.
3) Serve as an authoritative reference for Antarctic marine species classification.
2. ANTARCTIC ZONE (Southern Ocean s.s .) - True northern limit: Antarctic Polar Front ( 48°S to 63°S, convenient average limit: 55°S). - Operational northern limits: South Atlantic Sector - Between 60°W and 50°W: 57°S (different from CCAMLR) - Between 50°W and 30°E: 50°S (same as CCAMLR) Indian Sector - Between 30°E and 80°E: 50°S (different from CCAMLR) - Between 80°E and 150°E: 55°S (same as CCAMLR) South Pacific Sector - Between 150°E and 60°W: 60°S (same as CCAMLR) SCAR-MarBIN / RAMS Geographic scope
3. SUB-ANTARCTIC ZONE - True northern limit: sub-Tropical Front (30°S to 47°S, convenient average limit: 43°S). - Operational northern limits: South Atlantic and Indian Sectors - Between 65°W and 140°E: 43°S Pacific Sector - Between 140°E and 176°W: 48°S - Between 176°W and 80°W: 45°S - Between 80°W and 72°W: 41°S SCAR-MarBIN / RAMS Geographic scope
4. 16,222 taxa (+ 19 % since Val.) 8,806 valid spp (+ 20 % since Val .) 78 % benthic spp 19 % pelagic spp 3 % parasitic spp 64 Taxonomic Editors (All groups but 4) RAMS overview
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. ANTARCTIC ZONE (Southern Ocean s.s .): - True northern limit: Antarctic Polar Front (48°S to 63°S, convenient average limit: 55°S). - Operational northern limits: South Atlantic Sector - Between 60°W and 50°W: 57°S - Between 50°W and 30°E: 50°S (same limits as CCAMLR) Indian Sector - Between 30°E and 80°E: 50°S - Between 80°E and 150°E: 55°S (same limits as CCAMLR) South Pacific Sector - Between 150°E and 60°W: 60°S (same limits as CCAMLR) SUB-ANTARCTIC ZONE - True northern limit: sub-Tropical Front (30°S to 47°S, convenient average limit: 43°S). - Operational northern limits: South Atlantic and Indian Sectors - Between 65°W and 140°E: 43°S Pacific Sector - Between 140°E and 176°W: 48°S - Between 176°W and 80°W: 45°S - Between 80°W and 72°W: 41°S SCAR-MarBIN / RAMS Geographic scope
Notas del editor
RAMS primary role was to establish a benchmark of the present taxonomic knowledge of the Southern Ocean biodiversity, particularly important in the context of global change. This, in turn, allowed detecting gaps in knowledge, taxonomic treatment and coverage, and estimating the importance of the taxonomic impediment as well as the needs for more complete and efficient taxonomic tools.