ZMT - Leibniz Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung

The biodiversity of marine ecosystems is not only fascinating but also has an important function in marine areas worldwide. For example, it contributes to securing our marine food sources, stabilising sediments and even discovering new medicines. Although the biodiversity of marine organisms has been studied for over 200 years, many groups, especially in marine plankton, have not been sufficiently researched. These include fungi and fungus-like species. These play an important role in the freshwater food web, e.g. as parasites of phytoplankton. What functions they fulfil in the marine food web or how many species there are is not known in detail. Despite our lack of knowledge, marine plankton is regularly used to analyse and model ecosystem processes.

The aim of INDIFUN-AI is to better understand the diversity and function of marine fungi and fungal-like organisms in the marine food web and thus contribute to a better assessment of climate-induced changes and to find reliable indicators for these changes.

The scientific objectives of the project are:

1.1 Compilation of a holistic data set (bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, environmental parameters) from the Hausgarten Observatory and neighbouring areas;

1.2 Understanding the influence of parasitic and saprotrophic components (mycoplankton) of marine plankton communities on biodiversity patterns and changes;

2.1 Establishment of a parasite-host model system;

2.2 Feeding experiments with zooplankton;

2.3 Influence of environmental factors on the host-parasite model system;

3.1 Creation of new biodiversity indicators including mycoplankton, using machine learning methods;

3.2 Stakeholder interactions for participatory indicator development; testing the applicability of new indicators; development of recommendations for action to protect the diversity of marine plankton.