The scientist from the BIOCON group at the University Institute of the ULPGC, who is also chair of the Working Group on Zooplankton Ecology (WGZE) of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), is a member of the drafting team for the chapter on plankton in an initiative bringing together more than 550 experts from 86 countries. According to the UN, this publication is “possibly” the “most important book on the ocean ever written”.
Inma Herrera, researcher at the ECOAQUA University Institute of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), has contributed as a member of the Writing Team of Subchapter 4A: Plankton of the United Nations’ Third World Ocean Assessment (World Ocean Assessment III, WOA III), one of the most ambitious international scientific initiatives aimed at assessing the state of the ocean and its evolution at a global scale.
Developed under the United Nations Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, WOA III brings together the knowledge and expertise of more than 550 specialists from 86 countries, providing an integrated overview of the condition of the world’s oceans, the changes they are undergoing, and the implications for present and future generations. According to the UN, this publication is “possibly” the “most important book on the ocean ever written”.
Group photo of the experts taking part in the World Ocean Assessment III (WOA III) regional workshop, held in Lisbon (Portugal) in 2023. Among them is Inma Herrera, a researcher at ECOAQUA and a member of the drafting team for the chapter on plankton in the United Nations’ Third World Ocean Assessment.
Inma Herrera, who also chairs the Working Group on Zooplankton Ecology (WGZE) of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), has contributed to the drafting of the chapter on plankton, a group of organisms that accounts for by far the largest proportion of biomass in the open oceans. Her contribution has focused particularly on zooplankton, an essential component of marine ecosystems that plays a key role in both oceanic food webs and the ocean’s biogeochemical cycles.
A photograph of researcher Inma Herrera.
Global change
The chapter reviews the latest scientific evidence on how ocean warming, acidification, changes in nutrient inputs, and other drivers of global change are affecting the productivity, distribution, and composition of plankton communities. It also highlights the need to strengthen long-term observation programmes to better understand how marine ecosystems respond to environmental change and to improve our capacity to anticipate future impacts.
“Contributing to this assessment has been an opportunity to support a global perspective on the state of the ocean and to highlight the importance of plankton, and particularly zooplankton, as indicators of the changes taking place in marine ecosystems,” said Inma Herrera.
Promotional image for WOAIII.
Herrera’s participation in this international assessment reinforces the contribution of ECOAQUA and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to advancing scientific knowledge of the ocean and supporting international efforts towards its conservation and sustainable management.
For more information about the World Ocean Assessment III:
https://www.un.org/ regularprocess/woa3