Through the Meiodyssea project, scientists from IFREMER, in collaboration with teams from JAMSTEC in Japan, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherland and Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Germany, are taking on the challenge of describing 125 to 200 new species of meiofauna, small organisms measuring less than a millimeter that nest in sediments, in the 5 oceans. Combining high-resolution 3D imaging and artificial intelligence, this ambitious project, funded by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, aims to fill our knowledge gap on the diversity, ecology and evolutionary history of invisible marine fauna, to facilitate the conservation of vulnerable marine ecosystems.
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