The 7th International Zooplankton Production Symposium, held in Hobart, Australia, brought together more than 300 experts from 38 countries to address how marine zooplankton are responding to the pressures of climate change, pollution, and human impacts on the oceans.
The theme “New Horizons" captured the urgency to understand zooplankton, which play a critical role in carbon storage, climate regulation, and supporting fish and marine mammal populations. The symposium highlighted the need to combine new technologies, such as DNA, imaging, and bioacoustics, with classical methods to better track these vital organisms.
Participants shared advances in observing and modelling zooplankton communities, emphasizing the importance of linking zooplankton changes with the biological carbon pump, fisheries productivity, and ecosystem health. Despite progress, the symposium underscored gaps that remain, particularly in under-sampled regions like the Southern Hemisphere and the Indian Ocean, and the challenges of sustaining long-term observation programmes.
Discussions also focused on the emerging role of gelatinous zooplankton in food webs and carbon cycling, the impacts of pollutants, and the effects of extreme events on zooplankton populations. A strong call was made for expanded international collaboration and resourcing to build long-term biological time-series and to incorporate zooplankton data more effectively into climate and fisheries models.
The outcomes of the symposium, now published in a special issue of ICES Journal of Marine Science, reinforce the need for continued global commitment to understanding zooplankton dynamics in a rapidly changing ocean.
Read all submitted articles in ICES Journal of Marine Science's latest symposium issue, 7th International Zooplankton Production Symposium.
