When we talk about humanity's final frontier of exploration, many people tend to consider the expanse of space as it. However, one area that is often neglected is our oceans and its vast marine biodiversity. Several studies indicate that 91 percent of the world's marine biodiversity remains to be discovered. This is not necessarily due to ignorance or lack of motivators, however, as the challenges posed in oceanic exploration are far more significant than that of space exploration. The vast array of knowledge on numerous ocean-dwelling species is key to understanding how we can better manage our ecosystems. Knowing current issues -- such as coral bleaching, algae infestations, and invasive species -- which plague our oceans is essential; there is no denying that. However, protection efforts only go so far when the flora and fauna that inhabit our surrounding oceans aren't even recognized, let alone studied. Due to this issue, there have been several exploratory attempts and expanding humanity's collective knowledge on its ocean, including its biodiversity.
To start off, the reasoning behind the importance of biodiversity, in general, has to be understood. As humans, we have an overall need to harvest resources from our local ecosystem. Within these ecosystems are collections of flora and fauna, each contributing to their inhabited ecosystem in various ways. This is much more important in our marine ecosystems due to the sheer physical scope and wide range of species that live within it. As mentioned previously, understanding the role these various species have on the environment plays a key in tackling various environmental issues. We can redirect our course of action depending on which species are currently being affected or perhaps play a key role in maintaining the ecosystem's health. Marine species could be considered to be more at risk considering that they -- by association, to the knowledge of the oceans as a whole -- have not been closely studied whatsoever. This leaves them more prone to the consequences of uninformed decisions made on the part of the humans.
One such event that has highlighted our lack of knowledge of our oceans is the Deepsea Challenge, which sees James Cameron attempt to dive into the Mariana Trench's bottom. The selected location is unique, mainly due to its sheer depth of approximately 11,000 meters and abiotic conditions, seldom seen anywhere else. The pitch-black lighting conditions, extremely high pressure, and nearly-freezing temperatures save for some areas surrounded by geysers and volcanoes culminate in an environment that is home to numerous adaptive species of marine animals. Though some may see it as solely favoritism, the Mariana trench is a significant point of interest in marine exploratory efforts due to these inhabitants. It serves to emphasize the resilience individual marine animals have in terms of acclimating to their conditions. Hence, their potential in spreading awareness of just how vast biodiversity is in our oceans is large.
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