A standardisation framework for bio‐logging data to advance ecological research and conservation

We contend that ocean turbulent fluxes should be included in the list of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) created by the Global Ocean Observing System. This list aims to identify variables that are essential to observe to inform policy and maintain a healthy and resilient ocean. Diapycnal turbulent fluxes quantify the rates of exchange of tracers (such as temperature, salinity, density or nutrients, all of which are already EOVs) across a density layer. Measuring them is necessary to close the tracer concentration budgets of these quantities. Measuring turbulent fluxes of buoyancy (Jb), heat (Jq), salinity (JS) or any other tracer requires either synchronous microscale (a few centimeters) measurements of both the vector velocity and the scalar (e.g., temperature) to produce time series of the highly correlated perturbations of the two variables, or microscale measurements of turbulent dissipation rates of kinetic energy (ϵ) and of thermal/salinity/tracer variance (χ), from which fluxes can be derived. Unlike isopycnal turbulent fluxes, which are dominated by the mesoscale (tens of kilometers), microscale diapycnal fluxes cannot be derived as the product of existing EOVs, but rather require observations at the appropriate scales. The instrumentation, standardization of measurement practices, and data coordination of turbulence observations have advanced greatly in the past decade and are becoming increasingly robust. With more routine measurements, we can begin to unravel the relationships between physical mixing processes and ecosystem health. In addition to laying out the scientific relevance of the turbulent diapycnal fluxes, this review also compiles the current developments steering the community toward such routine measurements, strengthening the case for registering the turbulent diapycnal fluxes as an pilot Essential Ocean Variable.

The Earth system is enduring multiple, interacting stressors causing immense and irreversible change to its biosphere. The unprecedented magnitude of human influence on the planet is a cause for much concern, but also an opportunity to mitigate undesirable impact by instituting socio-ecological management strategies and monitoring their effectiveness. To do so, local and global policy developers and decision makers must have access to clear and globally consistent information streams that serve as planetary diagnostics. This need is being addressed by several international, multi-agency networks which have developed sets of "Essential Variables" (EVs) to improve consistency in the observation of key phenomena within their domains of operation. For example, the implementation of the Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) led by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) has set an example being followed in the marine and biodiversity domains by, respectively, the Global Ocean Observing System's (GOOS) Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) and the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON)'s Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). Each of these EV collections has a subset dedicated to biological and ecological phenomena. This is greatly encouraging for biodiversity science at large, but also runs the risk of parallel and conflicting developments occuring in the EV communities addressing thecross-cutting theme of biodiversity. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for these systems, and the communities behind them, to pursue tight conceptual and technical interoperability in aid of a coherent treatment of biodiversity in planetary-scale monitoring. In this contribution, we will describe our current research and implementation of a semantic interoperability layer for the EVs, with a focus on biology and ecology. Applying the best practices and core infrastructure of the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology (OBO) Foundry and Library, we have leveraged both mature and emerging reference ontologies targeting the domains of ecosystems and environment, population and communities, and high-level ecological phenomena. This interoperable collection of ontologies constitutes a foundation for highly expressive EV knowledge representation and management through robust, FAIR-compliant technologies. Further, we are coordinating these efforts with semantic technology adopted by UN agencies, representing global directives and indicators of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030. With open editorial models behind each of these ontologies, we aim to offer a scalable and inclusive system to bridge data and information products across the EVs through machine-accessible knowledge representation.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has identified climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss as the most critical and interconnected challenges facing humanity today, collectively known as the "triple planetary crisis." Each of these issues uniquely impacts the ocean, and monitoring these effects requires both advanced and traditional technologies working in tandem. Since 2012, the Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) framework has been central to global ocean observation efforts. This framework standardizes parameters, methodologies, and data documentation, making it possible to ensure data compatibility on a global scale and creating a solid foundation for collaborative research. In Germany, three Helmholtz Research Centers—Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon—have united their expertise in marine and polar research to establish the Strategic Helmholtz Infrastructure MUSE (Marine Environmental Robotics and Sensor Technologies for sustainable Research and Management of Coastal, Ocean, and Polar Regions). With decades of experience in environmental observation, these centers are pooling resources to create MUSE as a cutting-edge infrastructure. MUSE aims to advance robotic sensor technology, sustainable energy solutions, and data systems, transforming current robotic platforms into an integrated and cohesive fleet for comprehensive ocean monitoring. A central focus of MUSE is the development of modular, state-of-the-art environmental sensors, power sources, and data management systems. These innovations will enhance the ability of robotic ocean observation systems to measure the full spectrum of Essential Ocean Variables, especially those that are vital for studying biodiversity and pollution. This aligns with the standards set by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) working groups and addresses critical needs in biodiversity and pollution research. By building upon these modular systems, MUSE is positioned to tackle immediate and emerging challenges in ocean observation. MUSE also has a strong emphasis on accessibility and affordability, aiming to create modular and cost-effective solutions that can be deployed by the global oceanographic community. This approach seeks to democratize access to high-quality ocean data, ultimately making a tangible impact worldwide. By following the principles of FAIR data management—ensuring that data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable—MUSE upholds transparency and collaboration in ocean science. To support data-sharing efforts, MUSE will leverage the DataHub, a comprehensive data infrastructure initiative that aligns with Germany’s national data strategy (NFDI). DataHub provides an innovative framework for managing data and metadata, facilitating seamless data flow and interoperability on a global scale. Through this initiative, MUSE's contributions will not only advance scientific understanding of the ocean but will also enable informed decision-making, conservation efforts, and climate action. In essence, MUSE represents a bold leap forward in ocean observation, combining expertise, cutting-edge technology, and open-access principles to confront the urgent challenges posed by the triple planetary crisis. By advancing ocean monitoring capabilities and promoting global collaboration, MUSE is set to make a transformative impact on sustainable research and the stewardship of marine environments.

ABSTRACTSustained global ocean observations are needed to recognise, understand, and manage changes in marine biodiversity, resources and habitats, and to implement wise conservation and sustainable development strategies. To meet this need, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), a network of observing systems distributed around the world and coordinated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has proposed Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) that are relevant to both the scientific and the broader community, including resource managers. Building a network that is truly global requires expanding participation beyond scientists from well-resourced countries to a far broader representation of the global community. New approaches are required to provide appropriate training, and resources and technology should follow to enable the application of this training to engage meaningfully in global observing networks and in the use of the data. Investments in technical capacity fulfil international reporting obligations under the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14A. Important opportunities are emerging now for countries to develop research partnerships with the IOC and GOOS to address these obligations. Implementing these partnerships requires new funding models and initiatives that support a sustained research capacity and marine technology transfer.

The deep ocean below 200 m water depth is the least observed, but largest habitat on our planet by volume and area. Over 150 years of exploration has revealed that this dynamic system provides critical climate regulation, houses a wealth of energy, mineral, and biological resources, and represents a vast repository of biological diversity. A long history of deep-ocean exploration and observation led to the initial concept for the Deep-Ocean Observing Strategy (DOOS), under the auspices of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Here we discuss the scientific need for globally integrated deep-ocean observing, its status, and the key scientific questions and societal mandates driving observing requirements over the next decade. We consider the Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) needed to address deep-ocean challenges within the physical, biogeochemical, and biological/ecosystem sciences according to the Framework for Ocean Observing (FOO), and map these onto scientific questions. Opportunities for new and expanded synergies among deep-ocean stakeholders are discussed, including academic-industry partnerships with the oil and gas, mining, cable and fishing industries, the ocean exploration and mapping community, and biodiversity conservation initiatives. Future deep-ocean observing will benefit from the greater integration across traditional disciplines and sectors, achieved through demonstration projects and facilitated reuse and repurposing of existing deep-sea data efforts. We highlight examples of existing and emerging deep-sea methods and technologies, noting key challenges associated with data volume, preservation, standardization, and accessibility. Emerging technologies relevant to deep-ocean sustainability and the blue economy include novel genomics approaches, imaging technologies, and ultra-deep hydrographic measurements. Capacity building will be necessary to integrate capabilities into programs and projects at a global scale. Progress can be facilitated by Open Science and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) data principles and converge on agreed to data standards, practices, vocabularies, and registries. We envision expansion of the deep-ocean observing community to embrace the participation of academia, industry, NGOs, national governments, international governmental organizations, and the public at large in order to unlock critical knowledge contained in the deep ocean over coming decades, and to realize the mutual benefits of thoughtful deep-ocean observing for all elements of a sustainable ocean.

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) began in 2000 as the repository for data from the Census of Marine Life. Since that time, OBIS has expanded its goals beyond simply hosting data to supporting more aspects of marine conservation (Pooter et al. 2017). In order to accomplish those goals, the OBIS secretariat in partnership with its European node (EurOBIS) hosted at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ, Belgium), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE, 23rd session, March 2015, Brugge) established a 2-year pilot project to address a particularly problematic issue that environmental data collected as part of marine biological research were being disassociated from the biological data. OBIS-Event-Data is the solution that was developed from that pilot project, which devised a method for keeping environmental data together with the biological data (Pooter et al. 2017). OBIS is seeking early adopters of the new data standard OBIS-Event-Data from among the marine biodiversity monitoring communities, to further validate the data standard, and develop data products and scientific applications to support the enhancement of Biological and Ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in the framework of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO BON MBON). After the successful 2-year IODE pilot project OBIS-ENV-DATA, the IOC established a new 2-year IODE pilot project OBIS-Event-Data for Scientific Applications (2017-2019). The OBIS-Event-Data data standard, building on Darwin Core, provides a technical solution for combined biological and environmental data, and incorporates details about sampling methods and effort, including event hierarchy. It also implements standardization of parameters involved in biological, environmental, and sampling details using an international standard controlled vocabulary (British Oceanographic Data Centre Natural Environment Research Council). A workshop organized by IODE/OBIS in April brought together major animal tagging and tracking networks such as the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), the Animal Telemetry Network (ATN), the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the European Tracking Network (ETN) and the Acoustic Tracking Array Platform (ATAP) to test the OBIS-Event-Data standard through the development of some data products and science applications. Additionally, this workshop contributes to the further maturation of the GOOS EOV on fish as well as the EOV on birds, mammals and turtles. We will present the outcomes as well as any lessons learned from this workshop on problems, solutions, and applications of using Darwin Core/OBIS-Event-Data for bio-logging data.

The ocean is rapidly changing through warming, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, declining oxygen concentrations, and altered circulation patterns, which are reshaping marine ecosystems worldwide. These changes necessitate a complete and holistic view of affected marine ecosystems. Long-term ocean monitoring programs are crucial for understanding these changes and guiding sustainable management. The California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI)*1, initiated in 1949, is one of the world's longest-running and most comprehensive marine ecosystem observing programs. CalCOFI collects extensive ocean data across all Essential Ocean Variables in the Southern California Current four times a year (Gallo et al. 2022). This encompasses over 36 physical and chemical parameters, 2,500 biological parameters, and 50,000 environmental DNA sequences, measured simultaneously (Satterthwaite et al. 2025). These data have illuminated long-term ecosystem patterns, supported marine management, and enhanced our understanding of how climate variability and change impact the California Current. Given its long history and collaborative nature, CalCOFI's data are fragmented across more than 30 disparate datasets, managed by different entities, served in various locations, with inconsistent naming and limited integration (Fig. 1), which hinders a holistic ecosystem understanding. Thus, CalCOFI exemplifies similar challenges and opportunities of mobilizing and integrating ocean data on a global scale. Our vision has been to modernize and build an integrated data system for CalCOFI that automates dataset ingestion, integration, and serving for timely use in research and management (Fig. 1). We are developing workflows to publish these datasets into portals promoting Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR; Wilkinson et al. 2016) data principles. Our initial efforts focused on two core CalCOFI datasets: Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) bottle data and larval fish data to develop a workflow for easier access, integration, and use (Fig. 2). Data providers upload processed datasets into a shared Google Drive in simple formats (e.g., .csv), with globally unique identifiers and standardized naming conventions (Suppl. material 1). Data are automatically detected and integrated into a PostgreSQL database (Fig. 2). Newly added data trigger a system rebuild and validation, checking primary keys, spatial geometry, taxonomy, and metadata. Managers are notified of errors; otherwise, the system updates production databases, records a new version, and publishes a Github release with source files and a DOI via Zenodo. Original source data files are retained for past version reconstruction. While PostgreSQL maintains relationships between data, we also produce an analytical database in DuckDB for a single, portable database with fast querying, even on remote servers (Fig. 2). CalCOFI data and observations are accessible through multiple repositories and platforms, tools, interfaces, and portals based on user needs and funder requirements (Fig. 2; Suppl. material 1). For example, some tools support flexible analysis and visualization (e.g., NOAA Environmental Research Division's Data Access Program), others provide long-term archiving with standardized metadata (e.g., Environmental Data Initiative). We are also publishing biological observations in DarwinCore (Wieczorek et al. 2012) format with Extended Measurement or Fact and uploading them to the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) so that CalCOFI data can be integrated with global biodiversity datasets worldwide. CalCOFI program information is on the Global Ocean Observing System Biology & Ecosystem Portal, and dataset records are structured for indexing by portals like Ocean Data Information System (ODIS) and Google Dataset Search. To facilitate data access and visualization, we also developed the CalCOFI Integrated Data Viewer*2 (Fig. 3). This web app allows users to explore decades of CalCOFI oceanographic and larval fish data across space, time, and depth. We plan to integrate additional CalCOFI datasets and collaborate with other data providers to build a more complete ecosystem-level view of the California Current. Our ultimate goal is to enhance CalCOFI data findability, integration, and usability for scientific and management communities, enabling a better understanding of ocean changes and ensuring a sustainable future for marine ecosystems and human communities.

Science requires replication. The development of many cloned or isogenic model organisms is a testament to this. But researchers are reluctant to use these traditional animal model systems for certain questions in evolution or ecology research, because of concerns over relevance or inbreeding. It has largely been overlooked that there are a substantial number of vertebrate species that reproduce clonally in nature. Here we highlight how use of these naturally evolved, phenotypically complex animals can push the boundaries of traditional experimental design and contribute to answering fundamental questions in the fields of ecology and evolution.

Complex environmental problems frustrate practical reasoning and scientific research, and thereby challenge relations between ethics and ecology. Sustainability crises, in which human powers affect ecological systems in ways that jeopardize basic social values, become practical problems only as cultures create capacities to take responsibility for them. They become real problems, that is, only as cultural reform processes generate ways to confront and learn from social crises. Issues such as climate change therefore require professionals who can make challenges to environmental science and moral culture into sites for adaptive learning and social change, thereby making inchoate threats into intelligible civic problems. How to make crises into problems shapes an ongoing debate over competing strategies of practical reason. Should ethics critique the cultural worldviews and metaphysical assumptions at root of environmental crises, or should it develop practical responses to specific problems from broadly available cultural values? The question seems to force a dilemma: choosing the cosmological route lets one critique the depth of problems, but at the cost of distance from the moral imagination and political values of most citizens, while choosing the pragmatic route lets one deploy cultural values to support specific policy solutions, but at the cost of being constrained by the modest reforms those values permit. Work in religious ethics, and its companion field of religion and ecology, tends to pursue a cosmological strategy, examining background worldviews and ontological assumptions in order to challenge the cultural ideas that underlie sustainability problems. This approach allows ethicists to critique deep cultural roots, but at the cost of distance from the way particular moral communities can respond to environmental problems and of abstraction from the specific problems faced by ecological science. Because our scholarship has often been abstract from science-based interpretation of problems and from the cultural reform processes by which communities generate responses to them, I have elsewhere argued that religious ethics should adopt methods from the problem-based approaches proposed by pragmatists. Problem-based methods allow religious ethicists to better critique and cultivate the ways communities invent moral change in response to practical challenges.1 Here I argue the other side; that problem-based approaches can benefit from considering the role of religious communities in generating cultural reform. Pragmatic approaches depend on cultural reform when they use adaptive ecological management as an instrument to deal with complex problems. Adaptive management is primarily a tool for doing ecological research in conditions of uncertainty, but as I will show, can be extended as a civic process of ethical

From Assemblage to Community

Determining What's Important about Landscapes

Animal telemetry is a powerful tool for observing marine animals and the physical environments that they inhabit, from coastal and continental shelf ecosystems to polar seas and open oceans. Satellite-linked biologgers and networks of acoustic receivers allow animals to be reliably monitored over scales of tens of meters to thousands of kilometers, giving insight into their habitat use, home range size, the phenology of migratory patterns and the biotic and abiotic factors that drive their distributions. Furthermore, physical environmental variables can be collected using animals as autonomous sampling platforms, increasing spatial and temporal coverage of global oceanographic observation systems. The use of animal telemetry, therefore, has the capacity to provide measures from a suite of essential ocean variables (EOVs) for improved monitoring of Earth's oceans. Here we outline the design features of animal telemetry systems, describe current applications and their benefits and challenges, and discuss future directions. We describe new analytical techniques that improve our ability to not only quantify animal movements but to also provide a powerful framework for comparative studies across taxa. We discuss the application of animal telemetry and its capacity to collect biotic and abiotic data, how the data collected can be incorporated into ocean observing systems, and the role these data can play in improved ocean management.

Tribolium castaneum has a long history as a model species in many distinct subject areas, but improved connections among the genetics, genomics, behavioral, ecological, and pest management fields are needed to fully realize this species' potential as a model. Tribolium castaneum was the first beetle whose genome was sequenced, and a new genome assembly and enhanced annotation, combined with readily available genomic research tools, have facilitated its increased use in a wide range of functional genomics research. Research into T. castaneum's sensory systems, response to pheromones and kairomones, and patterns of movement and landscape utilization has improved our understanding of behavioral and ecological processes. Tribolium castaneum has also been a model in the development of pest monitoring and management tactics, including evaluation of insecticide resistance mechanisms. Application of functional genomics approaches to behavioral, ecological, and pest management research is in its infancy but offers a powerful tool that can link mechanism with function and facilitate exploitation of these relationships to better manage this important food pest.

Relevance. The relevance of the study in this research is based on the problems of severe ecological imbalance in the world, which has caused the necessity to update environmental education in the conditions of sustainable development of the educational process in higher education. Purpose. The purpose of this study is to develop a teaching management model for successful eco-oriented learning in higher education students. Methodology. The leading method for investigating this problem is testing using the Sh. Schwartz "Schwartz Values Survey" to investigate personal values based on the identification of essential components of society and personality, considering various problems through existing self-assessments and behavioural traits. Results. The study provides a model of teaching management for the successful teaching of various disciplines within the framework of ecologically-oriented education of higher education students, based on which the teachers themselves should have developed a culture of ecological conservation and a model of analysis of any action with its impact on the field of ecology and with the methodological prerequisites for considering practical examples of ecological conservation at all levels of various disciplines. Conclusions. The established model of teaching management of ecologically-oriented education of higher education students allows to establish conditions of sustainable development for development of high ecological culture with value norms of careful attitude to the environment and all levels of nature, to understand on the deep cognitive-activational level the model of ecological conservation in practice in any of their future activities, both personal and professional, which will allow them to conduct any activity within the framework of ecological and environmental restoration and conservation, which is of practical relevance to the education system and the welfare of society. Keywords: ecological conservation method, teaching system, moral values, eco-oriented education

In 2005, an editorial was published in the Journal thataddressedthechangingemphasisanddirectionofappliedecol-ogy (Freckleton et al. 2005). This editorial proposed that theJournal should increasingly target papers that would havedirect relevance to ecological management and policy whilemaintainingastronglinktobasicecologicalconceptsandthe-ories. These core aspects are still true 5 years later, but withexpanding areas of research and new management challenges;todaymorethanevertheJournalmustreachoutandofferrealinsightandoptionsformanagement.Theaimsofthisnewedi-torialaretooutlinetoauthorsandreviewersthekeyattributesthat form the basis of the papers published in the Journal ofApplied Ecology and to announce new developments in linewith our strategic vision for the journal at the start of a newdecade.TheJournal’scriticalroleininfluencingpolicyisemphasizedby the looming deadline of the Convention on BiologicalDiversity which set the target of significantly reducing bio-diversity loss by 2010.A number of ecologicalaudits assessingbiodiversity loss have taken place, for example, the MilleniumEcosystem Assessment examined the consequences of ecosys-tem change for human well-being and concluded that, world-wide, 60% of ecosystem services had been degraded. Otherassessmentsareinprogress,forexample,theNationalEcosys-temAssessmentwillprovidethefirstanalysisoftheUK’snatu-ral environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society.Thesetargetsandauditsarenotenvironmentalniceties;ratherasstatedbytheUnitedNationsSecretary-GeneralKofiAnnanin 2005 ‘Failure to conserve and use biological diversity in asustainable manner would result in degrading environments,newandmorerampantillnesses,deepeningpovertyandacon-tinuedpatternofinequitableanduntenablegrowth’.Putprac-tically: biodiversity matters, it matters to the rich and to thepoor, to the developed and to the developing world. Appliedecologists are a crucial part of a multi-disciplinary groupengagedinmanaginghumanuseoftheenvironmenttopreventKofi Annan’s vision from materializing. Working proactivelywithenvironmentalmanagers,collaboratingwithcolleaguesinthe social and physical sciences, and holding two-way conver-sations with policy makers and the public are all in the jobdescriptionofthemodernappliedecologist.The Journal of Applied Ecology is one of the most highlyranked international journals in its field, with a reputation forpublishing papers that combine the highest standards of eco-logicalsciencewithdirectrelevancetoenvironmentalmanage-ment. Our remit is extremely large. Thus, we publish researchon animal, microbial and plant taxa across a broad range ofhabitats and ecosystems, and these papers span observational,experimental and theoretical studies. With the dramaticgrowth of applied ecological research in the last decade, theJournalneedstorefineitsscopetoensureweretainourdistinctidentity among ecology journals. To help potential authorsidentifywhethertheirpaperissuitableforthejournal,wehavedescribed below the types of papers we accept for publication.Ouracceptancerateischallenging(14AE5%in2008)andauthorsneed to be confident that their study fits our remit before sub-mission. As examples of good practice, we use papers thatprovedparticularly influentialorthatwereselectedastheEdi-tor’s choice. Editor’s choice is a new initiative begun in 2008and is used as a means of highlighting papers that are, espe-ciallytimely,particularlyhighqualityandmeetourkeycriteriaofecologicalstudieswithmanagementrelevance.