The Census of Marine Life includes a wall map, where red indicates greater biodiversity, not less. Australia and Southeast Asia are obviously the biodiversity hotspots. The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. The world's first comprehensive census of the past, present, and future of life in the oceans is being released in 2010.