WGIMT works towards these objectives with a particular focus on species recognition, discrimination, and identification of marine zooplankton. Related goals include the detection of cryptic species and determination of the evolutionary/systematic relationships between pelagic zooplankton species.
The group contributes to ICES mission to analyze, recognize, and understand changes in community structure, species diversity, and species phenology and productivity. Furthermore, work is done on understanding and predicting how these characteristics will affect foodwebs and trophic relationships as well as the transfers and cycles of nutrients, chemical elements, energy, and biological production.
Membership of WGIMT includes experts who use molecular approaches and techniques to examine a broad range of research topics in zooplankton systematics, ecology, and evolution – including taxonomy, population genetics, phylogeography, trophic relationships, predator–prey interactions, and phylogeny. The experts seek to promote the group's work through participation in international conferences.
A web portal is established for access to useful websites, materials, and publications related to morphological, molecular, and optical approaches to zooplankton species identification.
