Australian Marine Zooplankton: a taxonomic guide and atlas
Welcome to Australian Marine Zooplankton: a taxonomic guide and atlas. Here you’ll find help for identifying many common zooplankton.
Also included are fact sheets covering taxonomic information, descriptions, photographs, diagrams, distribution maps and information about collecting zooplankton.
We hope you find this site useful and we welcome any feedback on the content.
Kerrie Swadling and Anthony Richardson.
The importance of zooplankton
Zooplankton constitute a fascinating, diverse and abundant group of animals living in water bodies throughout the world. Zooplankton encompass representatives of all the major invertebrate phyla, including some that can only be found in the plankton. Since they are the principal diet of most larger pelagic animals, including commercially important fish, their study is essential for forming a more complete understanding of the functioning of marine ecosystems.
Identifying zooplankton can be a challenging task as traditional keys have usually been designed for users with a high level of expertise. This online guide allows users to identify their specimen to major group and species level via an image-based key.
Authors
- Kerrie Swadling*
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
University of Tasmania - Anthony Richardson*
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Anita Slotwinski
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Claire Davies
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Jason Beard
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
University of Tasmania - David McKinnon
Australian Institute of Marine Science - Frank Coman
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Nicole Murphy
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Mark Tonks
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Wayne Rochester
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Graham Hosie
Australian Antarctic Division
* These authors have contributed equally
How to reference this site
Swadling KM, Slotwinski A, Davies C, Beard J, McKinnon AD, Coman F, Murphy N, Tonks M, Rochester W, Richardson AJ 2013 Australian Marine Zooplankton: a taxonomic guide and atlas. Version 1.0 February 2013 http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/zooplankton.
