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<DIV datatype="" rel="dc:type" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"
xpathLocation="noSelect" property="dc:title"><FONT size=4>Global Diversity of
Sponges (Porifera)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: none; VISIBILITY: hidden" datatype=""
property="dc:description"><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105">http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105</A></DIV>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline" id=sectionNavTopBox>
<DIV id=sectionNavTop class=tools xpathLocation="noSelect"></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Rob W. M. Van
Soest</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff1">1</A></SUP><SUP><A
class=fnoteref
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#cor1">*</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Nicole
Boury-Esnault</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff2">2</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Jean
Vacelet</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff2">2</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Martin
Dohrmann</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff3">3</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Dirk
Erpenbeck</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff4">4</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Nicole J. De
Voogd</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff1">1</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Nadiezhda
Santodomingo</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff5">5</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Bart
Vanhoorne</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff6">6</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">Michelle
Kelly</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff7">7</A></SUP>,
<SPAN rel="dc:creator"><SPAN property="foaf:name">John N. A.
Hooper</SPAN></SPAN><SUP><A
href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035105#aff8">8</A></SUP></DIV>
<DIV class=affiliations xpathLocation="noSelect"><A id=aff1
name=aff1></A><STRONG>1</STRONG> Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis,
Leiden, The Netherlands, <A id=aff2 name=aff2></A><STRONG>2</STRONG>
Aix-Marseille University, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, CNRS, DIMAR, UMR
6540, Marseille, France, <A id=aff3 name=aff3></A><STRONG>3</STRONG> Department
of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America, <A id=aff4
name=aff4></A><STRONG>4</STRONG> Department of Earth- and Environmental Sciences
& GeoBio-Center LMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany,
<A id=aff5 name=aff5></A><STRONG>5</STRONG> Paleontology Department, Natural
History Museum, London, United Kingdom, <A id=aff6
name=aff6></A><STRONG>6</STRONG> Flanders Marine Institute - VLIZ, Innovocean
Site, Oostende, Belgium, <A id=aff7 name=aff7></A><STRONG>7</STRONG> National
Centre for Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity, National Institute of Water
and Atmospheric Research Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand, <A id=aff8
name=aff8></A><STRONG>8</STRONG> Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, Queensland,
and Eskitis Institute for Cell & Molecular Therapies, Griffiths University,
Queensland, Australia E-mail: <A
href="mailto:rob.vansoest@ncbnaturalis.nl">rob.vansoest@ncbnaturalis.nl</A></DIV>
<DIV class=abstract
xpathLocation="/article[1]/front[1]/article-meta[1]/abstract[1]"><A id=abstract0
title=Abstract name=abstract0 toc="abstract0"></A> </DIV>
<DIV xpathLocation="noSelect"><STRONG>Abstract </STRONG></DIV>
<DIV class=abstract
xpathLocation="/article[1]/front[1]/article-meta[1]/abstract[1]">
<P xpathLocation="/article[1]/front[1]/article-meta[1]/abstract[1]/p[1]">With
the completion of a single unified classification, the Systema Porifera (SP) and
subsequent development of an online species database, the World Porifera
Database (WPD), we are now equipped to provide a first comprehensive picture of
the global biodiversity of the Porifera. An introductory overview of the four
classes of the Porifera is followed by a description of the structure of our
main source of data for this paper, the WPD. From this we extracted numbers of
all ‘known’ sponges to date: the number of valid Recent sponges is established
at 8,553, with the vast majority, 83%, belonging to the class Demospongiae. We
also mapped for the first time the species richness of a comprehensive set of
marine ecoregions of the world, data also extracted from the WPD. Perhaps not
surprisingly, these distributions appear to show a strong bias towards
collection and taxonomy efforts. Only when species richness is accumulated into
large marine realms does a pattern emerge that is also recognized in many other
marine animal groups: high numbers in tropical regions, lesser numbers in the
colder parts of the world oceans. Preliminary similarity analysis of a matrix of
species and marine ecoregions extracted from the WPD failed to yield a
consistent hierarchical pattern of ecoregions into marine provinces. Global
sponge diversity information is mostly generated in regional projects and
resources: results obtained demonstrate that regional approaches to analytical
biogeography are at present more likely to achieve insights into the
biogeographic history of sponges than a global perspective, which appears
currently too ambitious. We also review information on invasive sponges that
might well have some influence on distribution patterns of the
future.</P></DIV></FONT><BR>
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