Satellite-gene abundance fusion reveals global hotspots of ocean ecosystem services

The ocean plays a critical role in global health by regulating climate, supporting biodiversity, and providing essential ecosystem services. At the heart of these processes is plankton, which drives primary production, maintains food webs, and aids in carbon sequestration. However, the spatial arrangement of plankton-driven ecosystem services is not well understood.

The High Seas Treaty and the goal to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 call for science-based guidance for ocean governance. To address this knowledge gap, researchers aimed to pinpoint critical plankton-rich regions that contribute to functional diversity, net primary productivity, and carbon export across the globe. Using machine learning techniques, they integrated omics-derived plankton functions with satellite observations, along with diversity metrics and ecosystem services.

By analyzing metagenomic data, they identified molecular functions strongly associated with ecosystem functioning and projected their global distributions throughout the year. The study identified potential hotspots of functional diversity, net primary productivity, and carbon export. These hotspots were found to coincide primarily with oceanographic features such as polar fronts and major current systems.

The scientists used satellite data as the primary input, which enabled them to capture the temporal variability of these hotspots, offering a global, dynamic protocol for forecasting plankton-based ecosystem services. These results provide a foundation for creating integrated conservation tools based on ecosystem functioning and inform adaptive management strategies in the face of climate change.