CERF hub scientist Piers Dunstan attended the Continental Margin Ecosystems (COMARGE) synthesis meeting held at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in September 2008. 

COMARGE is a Census of Marine Life (COML) program to facilitate information sharing between ecologists and taxonomists on the patterns and processes controlling biodiversity on the continental margins.

Key processes controlling patterns of biodiversity on the continental margins were discussed and synthesis papers are being prepared for 5 key habitats on the margins, continental slopes, canyons, methane seeps, oxygen minimum zones and biogenic structures. Surrogates for biodiversity in each of the key habitats were identified and uses for prediction were highlighted.

This work will be published in a special edition of Marine Ecology.  CSIRO will also contribute a paper on Western Australian Margin Biodiversity to the special edition.