GRUMP

Open global-ocean dataset

GRUMP Explorer

The Global rRNA Universal Metabarcoding of Plankton database brings bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes into a single, directly comparable view of the ocean’s plankton community. Search taxonomic groups or ASV hashes and map their distributions across 1,194 global-ocean samples.

Explore GRUMP ↓ Download from Zenodo ↗ Read the paper ↗
Global map of GRUMP sampling transects, colored by cruise and shaped by season
Figure 1A. GRUMP sampling coverage; colors denote cruise and symbols denote season.

Developed at USC with support from CBIOMES

At a glance

A cross-domain view of plankton across the global ocean.

1,194metabarcoding community profiles
19oceanographic sampling programs
0–6,015 mdepth coverage across all major ocean basins
About

A Global Ocean Survey of Plankton From All Three Domains of Life.

GRUMP is a dataset from unfractionated (>0.2 µm) seawater samples that were sequenced using the universal 515FY–926R primer pair, which amplifies the nuclear 16S and 18S rRNA genes as well as the eukaryotic chloroplast 16S rRNA gene. These primers have been shown to accurately reproduce microbial abundances in prokaryotic mock communities and eukaryotic mock communities, and found to perfectly match 96% of all prokaryotic and eukaryotic target sequences in hundreds of marine metagenomes.

Because the entire plankton community within each sample is collected on a single filter and the sequencing is performed with one primer pair, organism abundances can be directly and quantitatively compared across domains and samples without the barriers created by separate size fractions or separate primer sets. The result is a high-resolution resource for investigating plankton biogeography, interactions, and links to ocean conditions.

Samples were collected between 2003 and 2020 along extensive latitudinal and longitudinal transects and depth profiles. GRUMP also includes environmental context such as temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll, nutrients, Longhurst provinces, ocean basins, depth categories, and predicted euphotic zones where available.

Explore GRUMP

From the surface to the deep ocean.

The default view shows every GRUMP sample. Layer any combination of cruise, ocean basin, province, year, month, season, and depth category filters. Then search any GRUMP grouping, standard taxonomic rank, exact ASV hash, or ASV sequence. Light-grey dots show where samples exist, while blue circle size shows total relative abundance within each sample. ASVs recorded as unassigned are excluded from the current explorer.

1 · Layer sample filters
2 · Search biological data

Loading GRUMP samples…

Global sampling map

Drag to pan · Scroll or pinch to zoom

Interactive Figure 1. GRUMP sample locations and selected-group relative abundance.

Cross Section by Depth and Latitude

Depth increases downward; latitude runs from south to north.

Interactive Figure 2. Cross section by depth and latitude for the filtered GRUMP samples.

USE THE DATA

Interactive access

Simons CMAP

Browse and download the long-format dataset through a user-friendly ocean-data interface.

Open CMAP ↗

Archived release

Zenodo

Download the processed relative-abundance data and associated environmental covariates.

Open Zenodo ↗

Guided analysis

Getting started

Use the workshop to find a taxon and build maps, depth profiles, and biogeographic summaries in R.

Start the workshop →

Patch Notes

GRUMP Updates

GRUMP version 1.3.5

The current published release contains 1,194 profiles from all major ocean basins. The Zenodo and CMAP records are the primary public access points.

GRUMP data descriptor published

Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean was published in Scientific Data.

Acknowledgements

GRUMP would not be possible without all of the people who contributed samples, laboratory work, metadata, bioinformatics, scientific guidance, and writing. We gratefully acknowledge every collaborator who helped bring this global resource together.

GRUMP paper co-authors

*Co-first authors.

Paper acknowledgements

The published GRUMP data descriptor recognizes the many people, crews, institutions, and funding programs that made sample collection and analysis possible. The summary below is adapted from the paper’s acknowledgements.

Laboratory and analytical support

Laura Furtado supported laboratory work, sequencing, and sample logistics. Bruce Yanpui Chan and Yi-Chun Yeh assisted with DNA extraction, amplification, and sequencing. Bror F. Jonsson provided Longhurst-province allocation scripts and predicted euphotic depths.

FRAM and MOSAiC

The project thanks the crews of the RV Polarstern expeditions PS99.2 and PS107 and the FRAM/HAUSGARTEN team. Additional technical contributions came from Jana Bäger, Theresa Hargesheimer, Rafael Stiens, Lili Hufnagel, Daniel Scholz, Normen Lochthofen, Janine Ludszuweit, Lennard Frommhold, Jonas Hagemann, Jakob Barz, Swantje Ziemann, Halina Tegetmeyer, and Laura Wischnewski.

AMT, BioGEOTRACES, and GRADIENTS

The AMT acknowledgement includes the crew of the RRS James Cook, Stephanie Sargeant, and UK National Marine Facilities technicians. BioGEOTRACES support included the crews of the Pelagia, Southern Surveyor, Tangaroa, RRS James Cook, RRS Discovery, and Knorr, together with Kristin Bergauer, Heather A. Bouman, Thomas J. Browning, Daniele De Corte, Christel Hassler, Debbie Hulston, Jeremy E. Jacquot, Elizabeth W. Maas, Thomas Reinthaler, Eva Sintes, and Taichi Yokokawa. GRADIENTS support came from the crews of the Marcus G. Langseth and Kilo Moana and Chief Scientist Ginger Armbrust.

Southern Ocean programs

HEOBI, P15S, and INS2017 were supported through the CSIRO Marine National Facility and the crew of the RV Investigator. KAXIS was supported by the crew of the RV Aurora Australis and the Australian Antarctic Division Science Technical Support Team. The paper also recognizes Antarctic Science International Bursary support awarded to Swan L. S. Sow.

GO-SHIP and POTATOE

For I09N and I08S, the project thanks the crew of the Roger Revelle, Chantal Swan, Dave Menzies, and the trace-metal teams from the Chris Measures and Bill Landing laboratories. P16N and P16S support included the crews of the Thomas G. Thompson and Roger Revelle and Chief Scientists Christopher L. Sabine, Richard A. Feely, and Bernadette M. Sloyan. POTATOE samples were supported by the captain and crew of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer.

Computing and funding

Computing resources were provided by the University of Southern California Center for Advanced Research Computing. GRUMP was funded by the Simons Collaboration on Computational Biogeochemical Modeling of Marine Ecosystems, award 549943, and National Science Foundation grant EF-2125142.

Read the complete acknowledgements in the published paper ↗

Cite this paper

McNichol, J., Williams, N. L. R., Raut, Y. et al. Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean. Scientific Data 12, 1078 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05423-9

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