This e-conference was intended to inventorise, synthesise and report the opinion of the European community (scientists, science programmers, funding agencies, decision-makers, managers, and the public at large) on three issues that are considered important for the development and application of marine biodiversity research: what are the main scientific problems, locally and on the European and global scale, and what is the knowledge required to understand and predict patterns of marine biodiversity in Europe? what is needed for the application of marine biodiversity research in management and protection of the marine environment? how must we organize marine biodiversity research in the changing Europe of tomorrow? theme 3