A trial release of a tiny Japanese insect has been sanctioned by DEFRA to try to control the spread of Japanese Knotweed, a rapidly growing introduced plant that reportedly costs over £150 million per year to control.

Since the year 2000, a global network of scientists has been attempting something that is seemingly impossible. The Census of Marine Life is the first ever effort to record everything that lives in the World’s Oceans and Seas.

The majority of all records of life in the oceans have been taken from depths of less than 100m, it is clear that even a ten year project such as COML will struggle to map every living organism. Even so, since the work began, researchers have identified over 5600 new species. To demonstrate the sheer scale of the marine world, the initial COML report estimates that there are still over 1 million species that have yet to be described.

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, so I thought I would have a look at some of the issues that are being raised this year and, in particular, comments from Hilary Benn, the Government’s Environment Secretary, in a blog on the BBC website. The full article can be found here.

Hi there,

My name is David and I am just taking my first steps into journalism and writing by contributing on this site.

I have recently graduated with a degree in Marine Biology from the University of Portsmouth and I will be commenting on subjects as large as biodiversity and climate change to more specific topics like coastal ecosystems or individual species that make the news.

I will try to post regularly and will welcome any feedback or comments that you wish to make.