“Approaches towards findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) zooplankton trait data as stepping stones to improved functional ecology"

Zooplankton organisms are a fundamental component of marine ecosystems where they play a wide array of ecological roles, reflected by their diverse functional traits. In the attempt to capture and deeply understand these ecological roles, trait-based approaches and trait datasets have increased globally. Nonetheless, the lack of common standards and guidelines for acquiring, organizing and describing zooplankton trait data largely limits their findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR). The application of FAIR principles will unite trait-based research through the use of common standards and practices and advance trait-based approaches in zooplankton research by promoting further innovation, especially in mechanistically linking organismal-level traits to ecosystem-level functioning. The objectives of the workshop are to review the current status and future perspectives of zooplankton trait-based research and its ecological applications, and discuss the challenges of applying FAIR principles and analyzing zooplankton trait data, through a series of talks and open discussions. We therefore welcome submissions for presentations related to: (1) zooplankton functional ecology, (2) trait data collection and management, and (3) novel frameworks and analytical methods in trait-based studies. Presentations will be followed by hands-on sessions that will introduce digital services and semantic resources developed to improve zooplankton functional trait-data harmonization and interoperability (e.g., Zooplankton Trait Thesaurus), and present an example of a global zooplankton trait database and assemble a species-traits matrix from it. The participants are invited to collaborate in a discussion regarding the strategies and challenges in advancing zooplankton trait-based research and outline a road map for zooplankton trait data sharing, data management, and ecological applications.