Cost effective global scale plankton quantitative imaging

Plankton are fundamental to the functioning of marine ecosystems. Monitoring plankton populations and biodiversity across local to global scales is crucial for understanding their dynamics and evolution in a changing world, as well as their potential impacts on biogeochemical cycles and climate. However, traditional plankton studies often require expensive resources (e.g., research vessels), bulky instruments (e.g., microscopes), and specialized taxonomic expertise. Developed within the Plankton Planet initiative, the Planktoscope is a cost-effective fluidic microscope that enables state-of-the-art imaging, counting, and measurement of microplankton. This open-source, field-friendly device has the potential to empower laboratories and citizen science initiatives to collect consistent and valuable plankton biodiversity data at a low cost, enabling broad-scale data collection over large spatio-temporal ranges. To support the use of the Planktoscope, we have developed standardized protocols, methodologies, and training workshops. Combined with the EcoTaxa web platform—which facilitates standardized, semi-automated taxonomic classification and shared expertise—the Planktoscope offers an accessible means for extensive plankton monitoring. Over the past 3–4 years, more than 4,000 plankton samples have been imaged using Planktoscopes around the world, resulting in a collection of over 19 million individual plankton images. In this presentation, we review these deployments and their integration into various research projects, and provide an overview of future  deployments planned under the ‘Plankton Planet’ standards, with the ultimate goal of establishing a comprehensive, global network for quantitative observations of planktonic ecosystems.