AI model for aquatic biodiversity
In the AqQua project Hereon is involved in monitoring global populations of organisms in water
Plankton and organic particles take up carbon from the atmosphere, transporting it from the water’s surface to the deep sea. As a result, the Earth’s climate is heavily influenced by life in the water. The AqQua project aims to determine how many of these microscopic organisms exist globally, how they are distributed, and how these patterns are changing due to climate change. Researchers are analyzing billions of images for this purpose. The Helmholtz Foundation Model Initiative (HFMI) is funding the project. Hereon is involved through its Institute for Carbon Cycles. AqQua bridges cutting-edge ocean observation with AI-based models that drive the digitalization of scientific processes and promote knowledge transfer to fields such as business, policy, and society. The project is thus fully aligned with the scientific strategy of Hereon.
Climate change affects carbon export and food resources in aquatic ecosystems. Despite its crucial role, little is known about the spatial and temporal abundance of plankton on global scale. There are also significant uncertainties in estimating the global marine carbon export through the biological carbon pump. The carbon pump refers to the process in the ocean where phytoplankton absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and convert it into organic material. This material is either processed through the food chain or sinks to the ocean floor. Both processes sequester carbon on different yet climate-relevant time-scales in the deep ocean.
Dr. Klas Ove Möller, who coordinates the project at Hereon, explains: “In the first phase, the model will be optimized for species classification, their characteristics, and the precise determination of organic carbon. In the following steps, we will dive deeper and extract additional features, known as traits, from the images. Each individual image can contain a wealth of information. This will create a fundamental understanding in times of global change and additionally help to assess improved carbon budgets and evaluate emerging ocean-based technologies for CO₂ storage”. (Source: Hereon Press Release)
Read the complete Hereon Press Relase:
==> AI model for aquatic biodiversity
==> Institute of Carbon Cycles
==> Helmholtz Research Challenges: Artificial Intelligence
