Mark J. Costello has been an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand since 2004. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cork (Ireland) in 1987. Costello's current research interests include marine biodiversity and biogeography, amphipod Crustacea, biodiversity informatics, sea lice parasites, and marine reserves. He is the Founding Chair of World Register of Marine Species at www.marinespecies.org (2007-present); was the first Chairman of the International Committee of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, the data system of the Census of Marine Life (2001-2008); and is the President (2009-2011) and was the Secretary General (2002-2009) of the International Association for Biological Oceanography a member of the International Union of Biological Sciences and the International Council for Science. Costello has lectured in marine ecology, conservation, biodiversity informatics, marine reserves, ecotoxicology, aquaculture-environment interactions, project planning, scientific communication, and Mollusca.