FresH2O ZOOPS

Synthesizing patterns and drivers of changes in lake zooplankton community dynamics worldwide

© Rosalie Bruel

Global change is a threat to biodiversity. Syntheses of plant and animal community dynamics from local to global spatial scales, developed with comprehensive, long-term data, are needed to understand how biodiversity loss is likely to impair ecosystem function and the services they provide.

Long-term data series for inland waters remain alarmingly under-represented and under-funded. To better address the recognized biodiversity crisis in fresh waters, the project team has assembled the most comprehensive dataset on freshwater zooplankton—microscopic animals absolutely vital to healthy freshwater aquatic ecosystems.

Using the dataset and team science approach, the project team will meet several times over two years to answer four linked, timely questions about freshwater zooplankton dynamics related to global changes in freshwater biodiversity. Research and analyses will be published in peer-reviewed journals and reports. The continued use of the data set and analyses beyond the end of the project will be facilitated by developing a user-friendly dataset and interface with parallel open access outputs to serve other researchers, educators, and resource managers.