Editorial: Biodiversity and Distribution of Benthic Invertebrates - From Taxonomy to Ecological Patterns and Global Processes

Biodiversity loss due to human activities is increasing worldwide at an alarming rate, and the oceans 15 are not an exception to this pattern (O´Hara et al., 2021). Loss of biodiversity weakens the ability of 16 ecosystems to function efficiently and can influence their capacity to provide vital goods and services 17 to humanity (Roe, 2019). We are still far away from a complete inventory of all habitats and life 18 forms harbored by Earth's oceans. With the exception of few charismatic (e.g., corals) or edible (e.g., 19 mussels or oysters) invertebrate species, most of the attention of the general public and scientific 20 community is focused on vertebrates. However, invertebrate phyla represent about 75 % of all 21 described species both in ocean and land (Eisenhauer and Hines, 2021). The marine benthic realm is 22 one of the largest and probably more diverse habitats on Earth, harboring a huge taxonomical and 23 functional diversity of invertebrates (Snelgrove, 1999). Unfortunately, knowledge about patterns of 24 biodiversity of benthic invertebrates is still very focused on the most accessible intertidal and shallow 25 subtidal domains; there is also a geographic bias because large areas of the planet remain almost 26 unexplored as well. 27The main objective of this special topic collection was to improve our knowledge in the above-28 described gaps about benthic invertebrate biodiversity. In this frame, 15 papers by 82