Welcome

Within the Blue-Cloud 2026 project, the Ecosystem Workbench delivered global spatial projections of plankton biodiversity and biomass produced (i.e., GOOS EOVs) through the CEPHALOPOD habitat modelling pipeline from heterogeneous biological observations including traditional net samples, quantitative imaging and metagenomics.

1 - Global Marine Plankton Biodiversity EBVs

This dataset collection provides global estimates of marine plankton biodiversity in the epipelagic (0 - 50m) layer, derived from four complementary biological observation types: species occurrences, abundance, biomass, and metagenomic data. From plankton observations, biodiversity patterns were modelled using the CEPHALOPOD habitat-modelling framework to generate monthly global Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) across multiple Hill diversity metrics, observation types. The collection enables consistent comparisons of marine biodiversity patterns across observational approaches, with explicit uncertainty estimation.

• Link to the dataset: Global plankton diversity - in prep, please ask Alexandre Schickele (alexandre.schickele@usys.ethz.ch) for permission for download
• Reference identifier: https://doi.org/10.17882/112686
• Related paper: A. Schickele, C. Clerc, F. Benedetti, V. Sonnet, M. Vogt. Marine plankton diversity is latitudinally structured but its relationships with ecosystem properties depend on observation types and diversity metrics. In preparation.

2 - Global Zooplankton Biomass EOVs

This dataset collection provides global estimates of zooplankton biomass for ten major plankton functional types in both epipelagic (0–200 m) and mesopelagic (200–500 m) ocean layers. Biomass distributions were derived from harmonised net-based observations and modelled using the CEPHALOPOD habitat-modelling framework. The resulting products represent Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) describing the spatial distribution of zooplankton carbon biomass across functional groups, including copepods, euphausiids, amphipods, appendicularians, chaetognaths, jellyfish, ostracods, pteropods, thaliaceans, and foraminifers. The collection includes monthly global climatological estimates, with explicit uncertaity estimation.

• Link to the dataset: Global plankton biomass - under review, please ask Corentin Clerc (corentin.clerc@locean.ipsl.fr) for permission for download
• Reference identifier: https://doi.org/10.17882/117486
• Related paper: C. Clerc , A. Schickele, F. Benedetti, U. Hofmann Elizondo, S. Lunven, R. Bader, S. Vivier, A. J. Richardson, . Vogt. A data-driven assessment of the global community structure of pelagic zooplankton biomass. EcoEvoRxiv. https://doi.org/10.32942/X29X0Q

3. - Contact information

For additional requests regarding data availability, content and download, please contact the work package leader Meike Vogt (meike.vogt@env.ethz.ch)