One of our Europe’s oldest marine institutes, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (EMBRC Italy) has been monitoring zooplankton for more than 40 years, in one of the longest planktonic time-series in the Mediterranean Sea.

Although charismatic megafauna, like sharks and whales, often get more attention, tiny marine organisms are often bursting with insights about the state of the ocean.

“Plankton is a key indicator of marine ecosystem health, and also is a key component in marine planktonic food webs,” says Iole Di Capua, a biological oceanographer at Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (EMBRC Italy). She is the scientific coordinator of the Stazione Zoologica Gulf of Naples – 40 Years of Zooplankton Biodiversity Assessment (ZOOGoN-40Y) project, which was selected as one of the 10 winners of the DTO-BioFlow Second Open Call.

One of Europe’s oldest marine institutes, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn has been monitoring zooplankton for more than 40 years, in one of the longest planktonic time-series in the Mediterranean Sea.

The MareChiara research programme was launched by Stazione Zoologica in 1984 to study plankton biodiversity and species distribution in the Gulf of Naples as well as exploring how climate change is affecting the ecosystem. Researchers have collected more than 1,500 samples: taking environmental and planktonic data fortnightly between 1984 and 1990, then weekly from March 1995 (ongoing).

“Every week we go to sea and we measure environmental parameters like temperature, salinity and nutrients,” says Di Capua in an interview. During these trips – travelling two nautical miles offshore of the city of Naples – the team collects zooplankton in a 200 micromesh net from 50 metres deep to the surface. The samples are analysed in the lab to identify species, such as copepods, doliolids and other zooplanktonic organisms, as well as tracking for new or non-indigenous plankton species.

“I think this data set is the one of the most complete, unique, and longest dataset of zooplankton communities for the Mediterranean Sea,” she adds.

ZOOGoN-40Y builds on this project, ensuring the long-term data add valuable insights to the EU Digital Twins of the Ocean. “With this project, we are updating and organising the plankton data that we have collected from 1984 to 2024,” she says. As part of this, they format the data using international standards and follow FAIR principles to ensure the dataset is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Making the data easier to integrate to the EMODNet Biology platform means it is more visible and accessible at both European and global levels.

This information can support marine spatial planning, policy, ecosystem management, and conservation efforts.

Di Capua is excited by the potential this high quality dataset has to make a real impact. “It allows real simulation and prediction to support better management of the marine environment,” she says.

Now in its final phase, ZOOGoN-40Y has harmonised data from 1984 to 2015 stored in non-standard formats across PCs, hard drives, and cloud storage. Integrating 40 years of data in an accessible and FAIR way proved a challenge, particularly because identifying recent samples (2016 to 2024) was very labour-intensive.

This progress towards standardisation supports the project’s goal of enhancing knowledge of zooplankton in the Med.

DTO-BioFlow is focused on strengthening the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO) through previously unused marine biodiversity data. EMBRC is a partner in this EU-funded project, which is working to overcome challenges related to collecting, harmonising, accessing, and analysing relevant data so they can support policymaking.

The second open call received 61 proposals from 19 countries across Europe. The 10 winners were chosen for their ability to contribute sustained, long-term access to previously inaccessible marine biodiversity data in line with Horizon Europe’s mission to restore our oceans and waters by 2030.

Each selected project received up to €60,000 to support their efforts in unlocking valuable marine biodiversity data. They were also invited to an exclusive data training workshop to help them refine their methodologies, discuss challenges, and receive training in data transformation, quality control, metadata management, and best practices for marine data collection.

“This grant and this project is helping us train our expertise in taxonomy and also in data management,” says Di Capua. “We are also working to show that scientific data produced should be free and open to all which will be made available for the first time through GBIF under the umbrella of GBIF Italy.”

To find out more about DTO BioFlow, visit: DTO-BIOFLOW

For a list of all winning recipients, visit: SELECTED DATA PROVIDERS SECOND OPEN CALL | DTO-BIOFLOW