biostudies-literatureUnknown14(1)England HDavid and Susan RockefellerOrganismal phenotyping to identify fitness traits is transforming our understanding of adaptive responses and ecological interactions of species within changing environments. Here we present a portable Multi-Taxa Phenotyping (MTP) system that can retrieve a suite of metabolic and photophysiological parameter across light, temperature, and/or chemical gradients, using real time bio-optical (oxygen and chlorophyll a fluorescence) measurements. The MTP system integrates three well-established technologies for the first time: an imaging Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) chlorophyll a fluorometer, custom-designed well plates equipped with optical oxygen sensors, and a thermocycler. We demonstrate the ability of the MTP system to distinguish phenotypic performance characteristics of diverse aquatiScientific reports21826https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11411053biostudies-literatureA portable multi-taxa phenotyping device to retrieve physiological performance traits.PMC11411053Suggett DJVoolstra CRRoper CDMatthews JHerdean AEngland HCamp EFHughes DJfalseA portable multi-taxa phenotyping device to retrieve physiological performance traits.Organismal phenotyping to identify fitness traits is transforming our understanding of adaptive responses and ecological interactions of species within changing environments. Here we present a portable Multi-Taxa Phenotyping (MTP) system that can retrieve a suite of metabolic and photophysiological parameter across light, temperature, and/or chemical gradients, using real time bio-optical (oxygen and chlorophyll a fluorescence) measurements. The MTP system integrates three well-established technologies for the first time: an imaging Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) chlorophyll a fluorometer, custom-designed well plates equipped with optical oxygen sensors, and a thermocycler. We demonstrate the ability of the MTP system to distinguish phenotypic performance characteristics of diverse aquati2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024 Sep2025-04-04T01:15:31.735Z2025-04-04T01:15:31.735ZS-EPMC114110533929420910.1038/s41598-024-71972-5