From Australian Oceans Data Network
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CMIP6 simulated zooplankton dynamics: grazing, mortality and other data streams

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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We compare the formulation and emergent dynamics of 11 CMIP6 IPCC marine biogeochemical models. We find that the largest source of uncertainty across model simulations of marine carbon cycling is grazing pressure (i.e. the phytoplankton specific loss rate to grazing). Variability in grazing pressure is driven by large differences in zooplankton specific grazing rates, which are not sufficiently compensated for by offsetting differences in zooplankton specific mortality rates. Models instead must tune the turnover rate of the phytoplankton population to balance large differences in top-down grazing pressure and constrain net primary production. We then run a controlled sensitivity experiment in a global, coupled ocean-biogeochemistry model to test the sensitivity of marine carbon cycling to this uncertainty and find that even when tuned to identical net primary production, export and secondary production remain extremely sensitive to grazing, likely biasing predictions of future climate states and food security.

Files and APIs

Additional Info

Field Value
Title CMIP6 simulated zooplankton dynamics: grazing, mortality and other data streams
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/7ab2b6e3-755b-4faa-8968-0aed3f12f9f3
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
tyler.rohr@utas.edu.au
Reference Period 01/09/2022 - 07/09/2023
Geospatial Coverage Australia
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "CMIP6 simulated zooplankton dynamics: grazing, mortality and other data streams". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/cmip6-simulated-zooplankton-dynamics-grazing-mortality-and-other-data-streams