Zooniverse is a citizen science project in association with Skidaway Institute of Oceanography’s ZERO-C Lab. It is open to anyone who has an interest in our oceans and what goes on in them. Advances in technology allows for large sets of data to be collected, but now the difficulties lie in sorting them!
The project involves sorting though image data to identify organisms known as zooplankton. As humans change the conditions of the earth, the ocean is becoming warmer, lower in oxygen and more acidic which is having negative impacts on plankton. The goal of Zooniverse is to explore what plankton are present and where to track changes over time.
The In-Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS) is a special device that acts as a ‘virtual net’. It captures images and abiotic information (temperature, light levels at different sampling locations). We need your help to identify what zooplankton are present and how many there are in these samples!
ZERO C lab team deploying the ISIIS to capture images of plankton. Photo courtesy of SKIO ZERO C Lab
Through this course you can explore what zooplankton are, why they are important to us and how to identify the different types of groups. After completing this training and passing the Post-Course Quiz you will be ready to help scientist sort through their data at; Collections » plankton-portal — Zooniverse.
Complete this pre quiz course below so we can find out how much you know about plankton!