Plankton, constituted by phyto-, zoo- and bacterio-/virioplankton, occupies the lowest levels of the trophic web in many marine ecosystems. Phytoplankton, represented by photoautotroph organisms, is the main primary producer in the oceans. Zooplankton is the heterotrophic part of the plankton. As such, it has a key role in transfer from those primary producers to higher trophic levels. It also takes part of a side-way recycling of organic matter in the water column, initiated by the bacterioplankton (not forgetting archaea), which is called the microbial loop. Many plankton organisms play various roles simultaneously in the ecosystem: they are mixotrophs. Ecological plankton studies are thus complex, due to the diversified and intricate ecological role of the many marine planktonic organisms.

In our laboratory, we develop a software called Zoo/PhytoImage that analyzes plankton samples through image analysis and machine learning. Plankton images from various origins can be used.

**For informations on the software, see : https://www.sciviews.org/software/zooimage/ **