The immeasurable value of plankton to humanity

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Grigoratou, Maria and Menden-Deuer, Susanne and McQuatters-Gollop, Abigail and Arhonditsis, George and Artigas, Luis Felipe and Ayata, Sakina-Dorothée and Bedikoğlu, Dalida and Beisner, Beatrix E and Chen, Bingzhang and Davies, Claire and Diarra, Lillian and Elegbeleye, Owoyemi W and Everett, Jason D and Garcia, Tatiane M and Gentleman, Wendy C and Gonçalves, Rodrigo Javier and Guy-Haim, Tamar and Halfter, Svenja and Hinners, Jana and Horaeb, Richard R and Huggett, Jenny A and Johnson, Catherine L and Kavanaugh, Maria T and Lara-Lopez, Ana and Lindemann, Christian and López-Abbate, Celeste and Messié, Monique and Möller, Klas Ove and Montes, Enrique and Muller-Karger, Frank E and Neeley, Aimee and Olaleye, Yusuf and Palacz, Artur P and Poulton, Alex J and Prowe, A E Friederike and Ratnarajah, Lavenia and Rodríguez, Luzmila and Rodríguez-Flórez, Clara Natalia and Rodriquez-Santiago, Aurea and Rousseaux, Cecile S and Saad, Juan Francisco and Santi, Ioulia and Soccodato, Alice and Stern, Rowena and Våge, Selina and Varkitzi, Ioanna and Richardson, Anthony (2025) The immeasurable value of plankton to humanity. BioScience. biaf049. ISSN 1525-3244 (https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf049)

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Abstract

Plankton, a diverse group of aquatic organisms, make Earth livable, regulate aquatic life, and provide benefits to human societies such as access to clean water, food security, and well-being. They also support economies and inspire biotechnological innovations. This article aims to raise awareness of the value of plankton to humanity and serves as an informative guide for aquatic professionals, policymakers, and anyone interested in plankton. We present the value of plankton across six themes of human interest: biogeochemistry; ecology; climate; the evolution of science; economy; and culture, recreation, and well-being. Guided by the 2022 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services values assessment, we introduce the six themes under the Life Framework of Values to offer a comprehensive summary of the significance of plankton to humanity. In addition, we provide examples of plankton variables used in policy frameworks and recommendations for enhancing understanding of their value through long-term sustainable research and monitoring.

ORCID iDs

Grigoratou, Maria, Menden-Deuer, Susanne, McQuatters-Gollop, Abigail, Arhonditsis, George, Artigas, Luis Felipe, Ayata, Sakina-Dorothée, Bedikoğlu, Dalida, Beisner, Beatrix E, Chen, Bingzhang ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1573-7473, Davies, Claire, Diarra, Lillian, Elegbeleye, Owoyemi W, Everett, Jason D, Garcia, Tatiane M, Gentleman, Wendy C, Gonçalves, Rodrigo Javier, Guy-Haim, Tamar, Halfter, Svenja, Hinners, Jana, Horaeb, Richard R, Huggett, Jenny A, Johnson, Catherine L, Kavanaugh, Maria T, Lara-Lopez, Ana, Lindemann, Christian, López-Abbate, Celeste, Messié, Monique, Möller, Klas Ove, Montes, Enrique, Muller-Karger, Frank E, Neeley, Aimee, Olaleye, Yusuf, Palacz, Artur P, Poulton, Alex J, Prowe, A E Friederike, Ratnarajah, Lavenia, Rodríguez, Luzmila, Rodríguez-Flórez, Clara Natalia, Rodriquez-Santiago, Aurea, Rousseaux, Cecile S, Saad, Juan Francisco, Santi, Ioulia, Soccodato, Alice, Stern, Rowena, Våge, Selina, Varkitzi, Ioanna and Richardson, Anthony;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:93352
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    24 June 2025
    Published
    24 June 2025
    Published Online
    11 April 2025
    Accepted
    10 October 2024
    Submitted
    Subjects:Science > Mathematics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Mathematics and Statistics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:02 Jul 2025 14:54
    Last modified:02 Jul 2025 14:59
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/93352
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