France, June 27 -- These aren't just collections for the future, but records of the present. Part archive and part insurance policy, biobanks are emerging as a front line of marine science, as climate change reshapes the life of the ocean faster than researchers can study it.

They also raise questions that go far beyond biology. What does it mean to preserve life in artificial environments? Who controls it once it is frozen and stored, then potentially turned into medicines or commercial products?

And can an entire ecosystem ever really be kept alive in a freezer?

"We are probably losing without knowing what we're losing," said Nicolas Pade, who runs the European Marine Biological Resource Centre - a network of marine laboratories and ...