diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 8571fd733..0fc6f2693 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
 
     - name: Install Poetry
-      uses: abatilo/actions-poetry@v4.0.0
+      uses: abatilo/actions-poetry@v3.0.2
       with:
         poetry-version: 1.5.1
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ jobs:
           python-version: "3.10"
 
       - name: Install Poetry
-        uses: abatilo/actions-poetry@v4.0.0
+        uses: abatilo/actions-poetry@v3.0.2
         with:
           poetry-version: 1.5.1
 
diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 631adfda9..be06d822d 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ class MyReferenceStyle(AuthorYearReferenceStyle):
     ("py:obj", "virtual_ecosystem.core.grid.GRID_STRUCTURE_SIG.__repr__"),
     ("py:obj", "virtual_ecosystem.core.grid.GRID_STRUCTURE_SIG.count"),
     ("py:obj", "virtual_ecosystem.core.grid.GRID_STRUCTURE_SIG.index"),
+    ("py:exc", "ParserError"),
+    ("py:exc", "BadZipFile"),
 ]
 intersphinx_mapping = {
     "numpy": ("https://numpy.org/doc/stable/", None),
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 1a26b08f4..dda45d9b2 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.8.4 and should not be changed by hand.
+# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.8.2 and should not be changed by hand.
 
 [[package]]
 name = "alabaster"
@@ -838,6 +838,17 @@ files = [
     {file = "dpath-2.2.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:34f7e630dc55ea3f219e555726f5da4b4b25f2200319c8e6902c394258dd6a3e"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "et-xmlfile"
+version = "2.0.0"
+description = "An implementation of lxml.xmlfile for the standard library"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.8"
+files = [
+    {file = "et_xmlfile-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:7a91720bc756843502c3b7504c77b8fe44217c85c537d85037f0f536151b2caa"},
+    {file = "et_xmlfile-2.0.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:dab3f4764309081ce75662649be815c4c9081e88f0837825f90fd28317d4da54"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "exceptiongroup"
 version = "1.2.2"
@@ -1197,13 +1208,13 @@ zstd = ["zstandard (>=0.18.0)"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hypothesis"
-version = "6.123.15"
+version = "6.123.13"
 description = "A library for property-based testing"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.9"
 files = [
-    {file = "hypothesis-6.123.15-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:de538edbb43ac908042f08e3078b9fd6b1eacb3ca1529fa36cc38fb48db94981"},
-    {file = "hypothesis-6.123.15.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:b9c55b8fa778ed115434c718d74d73e36ee0f4fca38839195ac8c61f0f9b0f2c"},
+    {file = "hypothesis-6.123.13-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:57c3b797664f6b45ce322a2e7854ee1c49fca67c07803cfa6ce2a9b825629d34"},
+    {file = "hypothesis-6.123.13.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:4a680787b7f84d7df918d9c05203677931495e548bbc962aa1c9e4643add58f3"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -1990,13 +2001,13 @@ files = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "marshmallow"
-version = "3.24.1"
+version = "3.25.0"
 description = "A lightweight library for converting complex datatypes to and from native Python datatypes."
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.9"
 files = [
-    {file = "marshmallow-3.24.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:ddb5c9987017d37be351c184e4e867e7bf55f7331f4da730dedad6b7af662cdd"},
-    {file = "marshmallow-3.24.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:efdcb656ac8788f0e3d1d938f8dc0f237bf1a99aff8f6dfbffa594981641cea0"},
+    {file = "marshmallow-3.25.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:50894cd57c6b097a6c6ed2bf216af47d10146990a54db52d03e32edb0448c905"},
+    {file = "marshmallow-3.25.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:5ba94a4eb68894ad6761a505eb225daf7e5cb7b4c32af62d4a45e9d42665bc31"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -2551,6 +2562,20 @@ files = [
     {file = "numpy-2.1.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:aa08e04e08aaf974d4458def539dece0d28146d866a39da5639596f4921fd761"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "openpyxl"
+version = "3.1.5"
+description = "A Python library to read/write Excel 2010 xlsx/xlsm files"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.8"
+files = [
+    {file = "openpyxl-3.1.5-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:5282c12b107bffeef825f4617dc029afaf41d0ea60823bbb665ef3079dc79de2"},
+    {file = "openpyxl-3.1.5.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:cf0e3cf56142039133628b5acffe8ef0c12bc902d2aadd3e0fe5878dc08d1050"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+et-xmlfile = "*"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "overrides"
 version = "7.7.0"
@@ -3775,13 +3800,13 @@ win32 = ["pywin32"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "setuptools"
-version = "75.7.0"
+version = "75.8.0"
 description = "Easily download, build, install, upgrade, and uninstall Python packages"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.9"
 files = [
-    {file = "setuptools-75.7.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:84fb203f278ebcf5cd08f97d3fb96d3fbed4b629d500b29ad60d11e00769b183"},
-    {file = "setuptools-75.7.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:886ff7b16cd342f1d1defc16fc98c9ce3fde69e087a4e1983d7ab634e5f41f4f"},
+    {file = "setuptools-75.8.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:e3982f444617239225d675215d51f6ba05f845d4eec313da4418fdbb56fb27e3"},
+    {file = "setuptools-75.8.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:c5afc8f407c626b8313a86e10311dd3f661c6cd9c09d4bf8c15c0e11f9f2b0e6"},
 ]
 
 [package.extras]
@@ -4174,72 +4199,72 @@ test = ["pytest"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "sqlalchemy"
-version = "2.0.36"
+version = "2.0.37"
 description = "Database Abstraction Library"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:59b8f3adb3971929a3e660337f5dacc5942c2cdb760afcabb2614ffbda9f9f72"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:37350015056a553e442ff672c2d20e6f4b6d0b2495691fa239d8aa18bb3bc908"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:8318f4776c85abc3f40ab185e388bee7a6ea99e7fa3a30686580b209eaa35c08"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:c245b1fbade9c35e5bd3b64270ab49ce990369018289ecfde3f9c318411aaa07"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:69f93723edbca7342624d09f6704e7126b152eaed3cdbb634cb657a54332a3c5"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:f9511d8dd4a6e9271d07d150fb2f81874a3c8c95e11ff9af3a2dfc35fe42ee44"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:c3f3631693003d8e585d4200730616b78fafd5a01ef8b698f6967da5c605b3fa"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:a86bfab2ef46d63300c0f06936bd6e6c0105faa11d509083ba8f2f9d237fb5b5"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:fd3a55deef00f689ce931d4d1b23fa9f04c880a48ee97af488fd215cf24e2a6c"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:4f5e9cd989b45b73bd359f693b935364f7e1f79486e29015813c338450aa5a71"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:d0ddd9db6e59c44875211bc4c7953a9f6638b937b0a88ae6d09eb46cced54eff"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:2519f3a5d0517fc159afab1015e54bb81b4406c278749779be57a569d8d1bb0d"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:59b1ee96617135f6e1d6f275bbe988f419c5178016f3d41d3c0abb0c819f75bb"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:39769a115f730d683b0eb7b694db9789267bcd027326cccc3125e862eb03bfd8"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:66bffbad8d6271bb1cc2f9a4ea4f86f80fe5e2e3e501a5ae2a3dc6a76e604e6f"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:23623166bfefe1487d81b698c423f8678e80df8b54614c2bf4b4cfcd7c711959"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:f7b64e6ec3f02c35647be6b4851008b26cff592a95ecb13b6788a54ef80bbdd4"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:46331b00096a6db1fdc052d55b101dbbfc99155a548e20a0e4a8e5e4d1362855"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:fdf3386a801ea5aba17c6410dd1dc8d39cf454ca2565541b5ac42a84e1e28f53"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:ac9dfa18ff2a67b09b372d5db8743c27966abf0e5344c555d86cc7199f7ad83a"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:90812a8933df713fdf748b355527e3af257a11e415b613dd794512461eb8a686"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:1bc330d9d29c7f06f003ab10e1eaced295e87940405afe1b110f2eb93a233588"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:79d2e78abc26d871875b419e1fd3c0bca31a1cb0043277d0d850014599626c2e"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:b544ad1935a8541d177cb402948b94e871067656b3a0b9e91dbec136b06a2ff5"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:b5cc79df7f4bc3d11e4b542596c03826063092611e481fcf1c9dfee3c94355ef"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:3c01117dd36800f2ecaa238c65365b7b16497adc1522bf84906e5710ee9ba0e8"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:9bc633f4ee4b4c46e7adcb3a9b5ec083bf1d9a97c1d3854b92749d935de40b9b"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:9e46ed38affdfc95d2c958de328d037d87801cfcbea6d421000859e9789e61c2"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:b2985c0b06e989c043f1dc09d4fe89e1616aadd35392aea2844f0458a989eacf"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:4a121d62ebe7d26fec9155f83f8be5189ef1405f5973ea4874a26fab9f1e262c"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:0572f4bd6f94752167adfd7c1bed84f4b240ee6203a95e05d1e208d488d0d436"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp313-cp313-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:8c78ac40bde930c60e0f78b3cd184c580f89456dd87fc08f9e3ee3ce8765ce88"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:be9812b766cad94a25bc63bec11f88c4ad3629a0cec1cd5d4ba48dc23860486b"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:50aae840ebbd6cdd41af1c14590e5741665e5272d2fee999306673a1bb1fdb4d"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:4557e1f11c5f653ebfdd924f3f9d5ebfc718283b0b9beebaa5dd6b77ec290971"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:07b441f7d03b9a66299ce7ccf3ef2900abc81c0db434f42a5694a37bd73870f2"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:28120ef39c92c2dd60f2721af9328479516844c6b550b077ca450c7d7dc68575"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:b81ee3d84803fd42d0b154cb6892ae57ea6b7c55d8359a02379965706c7efe6c"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:f942a799516184c855e1a32fbc7b29d7e571b52612647866d4ec1c3242578fcb"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:3d6718667da04294d7df1670d70eeddd414f313738d20a6f1d1f379e3139a545"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:72c28b84b174ce8af8504ca28ae9347d317f9dba3999e5981a3cd441f3712e24"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:b11d0cfdd2b095e7b0686cf5fabeb9c67fae5b06d265d8180715b8cfa86522e3"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:e32092c47011d113dc01ab3e1d3ce9f006a47223b18422c5c0d150af13a00687"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:6a440293d802d3011028e14e4226da1434b373cbaf4a4bbb63f845761a708346"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:c54a1e53a0c308a8e8a7dffb59097bff7facda27c70c286f005327f21b2bd6b1"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:1e0d612a17581b6616ff03c8e3d5eff7452f34655c901f75d62bd86449d9750e"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:8958b10490125124463095bbdadda5aa22ec799f91958e410438ad6c97a7b793"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:dc022184d3e5cacc9579e41805a681187650e170eb2fd70e28b86192a479dcaa"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:b817d41d692bf286abc181f8af476c4fbef3fd05e798777492618378448ee689"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:a4e46a888b54be23d03a89be510f24a7652fe6ff660787b96cd0e57a4ebcb46d"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:c4ae3005ed83f5967f961fd091f2f8c5329161f69ce8480aa8168b2d7fe37f06"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:03e08af7a5f9386a43919eda9de33ffda16b44eb11f3b313e6822243770e9763"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:3dbb986bad3ed5ceaf090200eba750b5245150bd97d3e67343a3cfed06feecf7"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:9fe53b404f24789b5ea9003fc25b9a3988feddebd7e7b369c8fac27ad6f52f28"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:af148a33ff0349f53512a049c6406923e4e02bf2f26c5fb285f143faf4f0e46a"},
-    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.36-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:fddbe92b4760c6f5d48162aef14824add991aeda8ddadb3c31d56eb15ca69f8e"},
-    {file = "sqlalchemy-2.0.36.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:7f2767680b6d2398aea7082e45a774b2b0767b5c8d8ffb9c8b683088ea9b29c5"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:da36c3b0e891808a7542c5c89f224520b9a16c7f5e4d6a1156955605e54aef0e"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:e7402ff96e2b073a98ef6d6142796426d705addd27b9d26c3b32dbaa06d7d069"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:e6f5d254a22394847245f411a2956976401e84da4288aa70cbcd5190744062c1"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:41296bbcaa55ef5fdd32389a35c710133b097f7b2609d8218c0eabded43a1d84"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:bedee60385c1c0411378cbd4dc486362f5ee88deceea50002772912d798bb00f"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6c67415258f9f3c69867ec02fea1bf6508153709ecbd731a982442a590f2b7e4"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:650dcb70739957a492ad8acff65d099a9586b9b8920e3507ca61ec3ce650bb72"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:93d1543cd8359040c02b6614421c8e10cd7a788c40047dbc507ed46c29ae5636"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:78361be6dc9073ed17ab380985d1e45e48a642313ab68ab6afa2457354ff692c"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:b661b49d0cb0ab311a189b31e25576b7ac3e20783beb1e1817d72d9d02508bf5"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:d57bafbab289e147d064ffbd5cca2d7b1394b63417c0636cea1f2e93d16eb9e8"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:2fa2c0913f02341d25fb858e4fb2031e6b0813494cca1ba07d417674128ce11b"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:9df21b8d9e5c136ea6cde1c50d2b1c29a2b5ff2b1d610165c23ff250e0704087"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:db18ff6b8c0f1917f8b20f8eca35c28bbccb9f83afa94743e03d40203ed83de9"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:46954173612617a99a64aee103bcd3f078901b9a8dcfc6ae80cbf34ba23df989"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:7b7e772dc4bc507fdec4ee20182f15bd60d2a84f1e087a8accf5b5b7a0dcf2ba"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:2952748ecd67ed3b56773c185e85fc084f6bdcdec10e5032a7c25a6bc7d682ef"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:3151822aa1db0eb5afd65ccfafebe0ef5cda3a7701a279c8d0bf17781a793bb4"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:eaa8039b6d20137a4e02603aba37d12cd2dde7887500b8855356682fc33933f4"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:1cdba1f73b64530c47b27118b7053b8447e6d6f3c8104e3ac59f3d40c33aa9fd"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:1b2690456528a87234a75d1a1644cdb330a6926f455403c8e4f6cad6921f9098"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:cf5ae8a9dcf657fd72144a7fd01f243236ea39e7344e579a121c4205aedf07bb"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:ea308cec940905ba008291d93619d92edaf83232ec85fbd514dcb329f3192761"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:635d8a21577341dfe4f7fa59ec394b346da12420b86624a69e466d446de16aff"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:8c4096727193762e72ce9437e2a86a110cf081241919ce3fab8e89c02f6b6658"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:e4fb5ac86d8fe8151966814f6720996430462e633d225497566b3996966b9bdb"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:e56a139bfe136a22c438478a86f8204c1eb5eed36f4e15c4224e4b9db01cb3e4"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:2f95fc8e3f34b5f6b3effb49d10ac97c569ec8e32f985612d9b25dd12d0d2e94"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:c505edd429abdfe3643fa3b2e83efb3445a34a9dc49d5f692dd087be966020e0"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:12b0f1ec623cccf058cf21cb544f0e74656618165b083d78145cafde156ea7b6"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:293f9ade06b2e68dd03cfb14d49202fac47b7bb94bffcff174568c951fbc7af2"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp313-cp313-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:d70f53a0646cc418ca4853da57cf3ddddbccb8c98406791f24426f2dd77fd0e2"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:44f569d0b1eb82301b92b72085583277316e7367e038d97c3a1a899d9a05e342"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:b2eae3423e538c10d93ae3e87788c6a84658c3ed6db62e6a61bb9495b0ad16bb"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:dfff7be361048244c3aa0f60b5e63221c5e0f0e509f4e47b8910e22b57d10ae7"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:5bc3339db84c5fb9130ac0e2f20347ee77b5dd2596ba327ce0d399752f4fce39"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:84b9f23b0fa98a6a4b99d73989350a94e4a4ec476b9a7dfe9b79ba5939f5e80b"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:51bc9cfef83e0ac84f86bf2b10eaccb27c5a3e66a1212bef676f5bee6ef33ebb"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:8e47f1af09444f87c67b4f1bb6231e12ba6d4d9f03050d7fc88df6d075231a49"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6b788f14c5bb91db7f468dcf76f8b64423660a05e57fe277d3f4fad7b9dcb7ce"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:521ef85c04c33009166777c77e76c8a676e2d8528dc83a57836b63ca9c69dcd1"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:75311559f5c9881a9808eadbeb20ed8d8ba3f7225bef3afed2000c2a9f4d49b9"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:cce918ada64c956b62ca2c2af59b125767097ec1dca89650a6221e887521bfd7"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:9d087663b7e1feabea8c578d6887d59bb00388158e8bff3a76be11aa3f748ca2"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:cf95a60b36997dad99692314c4713f141b61c5b0b4cc5c3426faad570b31ca01"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:d75ead7dd4d255068ea0f21492ee67937bd7c90964c8f3c2bea83c7b7f81b95f"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:74bbd1d0a9bacf34266a7907d43260c8d65d31d691bb2356f41b17c2dca5b1d0"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:648ec5acf95ad59255452ef759054f2176849662af4521db6cb245263ae4aa33"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:35bd2df269de082065d4b23ae08502a47255832cc3f17619a5cea92ce478b02b"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:4f581d365af9373a738c49e0c51e8b18e08d8a6b1b15cc556773bcd8a192fa8b"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:82df02816c14f8dc9f4d74aea4cb84a92f4b0620235daa76dde002409a3fbb5a"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:94b564e38b344d3e67d2e224f0aec6ba09a77e4582ced41e7bfd0f757d926ec9"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:955a2a765aa1bd81aafa69ffda179d4fe3e2a3ad462a736ae5b6f387f78bfeb8"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:03f0528c53ca0b67094c4764523c1451ea15959bbf0a8a8a3096900014db0278"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:4b12885dc85a2ab2b7d00995bac6d967bffa8594123b02ed21e8eb2205a7584b"},
+    {file = "SQLAlchemy-2.0.37-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:a8998bf9f8658bd3839cbc44ddbe982955641863da0c1efe5b00c1ab4f5c16b1"},
+    {file = "sqlalchemy-2.0.37.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:12b28d99a9c14eaf4055810df1001557176716de0167b91026e648e65229bffb"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
-greenlet = {version = "!=0.4.17", markers = "python_version < \"3.13\" and (platform_machine == \"aarch64\" or platform_machine == \"ppc64le\" or platform_machine == \"x86_64\" or platform_machine == \"amd64\" or platform_machine == \"AMD64\" or platform_machine == \"win32\" or platform_machine == \"WIN32\")"}
+greenlet = {version = "!=0.4.17", markers = "python_version < \"3.14\" and (platform_machine == \"aarch64\" or platform_machine == \"ppc64le\" or platform_machine == \"x86_64\" or platform_machine == \"amd64\" or platform_machine == \"AMD64\" or platform_machine == \"win32\" or platform_machine == \"WIN32\")"}
 typing-extensions = ">=4.6.0"
 
 [package.extras]
@@ -4735,4 +4760,4 @@ type = ["pytest-mypy"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = ">=3.10,<3.13"
-content-hash = "9a4ec2b0a7509c70a540b2aa317423ef706ff1bcd3b90c9a40b82b95a2df364d"
+content-hash = "cba513c73d76ca48eace6b62b94bee6547ccaefea369d24efd10a9394c2b48e5"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e2d5dee34..e0596d4e4 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ tomli = {version = "^2.0.1", python = "<3.11"}
 tomli-w = "^1.0.0" 
 tqdm = "^4.66.2" 
 xarray = ">=2024.6,<2026.0" 
+openpyxl = "^3.1.5"
 
 [tool.poetry.group.types.dependencies]
 types-dataclasses = "^0.6.6"
diff --git a/tests/core/data/garbage.csv b/tests/core/data/garbage.csv
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c55856dbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/core/data/garbage.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+a,b,c
+1,2,"3
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/core/data/garbage.xlsx b/tests/core/data/garbage.xlsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bd39652b1
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/core/data/garbage.xlsx differ
diff --git a/tests/core/data/reader_test.csv b/tests/core/data/reader_test.csv
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7b3295bed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/core/data/reader_test.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+var1,var2
+1,4
+2,5
+3,6
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/core/data/reader_test.xlsx b/tests/core/data/reader_test.xlsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d017787dc
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/core/data/reader_test.xlsx differ
diff --git a/tests/core/test_readers.py b/tests/core/test_readers.py
index 5c3bbdba7..b4bc9364e 100644
--- a/tests/core/test_readers.py
+++ b/tests/core/test_readers.py
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 
 from contextlib import nullcontext as does_not_raise
 from logging import CRITICAL, DEBUG, INFO
+from zipfile import BadZipFile
 
 import pytest
+from pandas.errors import ParserError
 from xarray import DataArray
 
 from tests.conftest import log_check
@@ -93,7 +95,11 @@ def test_func():
     ],
 )
 def test_load_netcdf(shared_datadir, caplog, file, file_var, exp_err, expected_log):
-    """Test the netdcf variable loader."""
+    """Test the netdcf variable loader.
+
+    The tests here are dependent on the test_file_format_loader, so cannot be run
+    individually.
+    """
 
     from virtual_ecosystem.core.readers import load_netcdf
 
@@ -105,6 +111,98 @@ def test_load_netcdf(shared_datadir, caplog, file, file_var, exp_err, expected_l
     log_check(caplog, expected_log)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    argnames=["file", "file_var", "exp_err", "expected_log"],
+    argvalues=[
+        (
+            "not_there.csv",
+            "irrelevant",
+            pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError),
+            ((CRITICAL, "Data file not found"),),
+        ),
+        (
+            "garbage.csv",
+            "irrelevant",
+            pytest.raises(ParserError),
+            ((CRITICAL, "Could not load data from"),),
+        ),
+        (
+            "reader_test.csv",
+            "missing",
+            pytest.raises(KeyError),
+            ((CRITICAL, "Variable missing not found in"),),
+        ),
+        (
+            "reader_test.csv",
+            "var1",
+            does_not_raise(),
+            (),
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test_load_csv(shared_datadir, caplog, file, file_var, exp_err, expected_log):
+    """Test the netdcf variable loader.
+
+    The tests here are dependent on the test_file_format_loader, so cannot be run
+    individually.
+    """
+
+    from virtual_ecosystem.core.readers import load_csv
+
+    with exp_err:
+        darray = load_csv(shared_datadir / file, file_var)
+        assert isinstance(darray, DataArray)
+
+    # Check the error reports
+    log_check(caplog, expected_log)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    argnames=["file", "file_var", "exp_err", "expected_log"],
+    argvalues=[
+        (
+            "not_there.xlsx",
+            "irrelevant",
+            pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError),
+            ((CRITICAL, "Data file not found"),),
+        ),
+        (
+            "garbage.xlsx",
+            "irrelevant",
+            pytest.raises(BadZipFile),
+            ((CRITICAL, "Could not load data from"),),
+        ),
+        (
+            "reader_test.xlsx",
+            "missing",
+            pytest.raises(KeyError),
+            ((CRITICAL, "Variable missing not found in"),),
+        ),
+        (
+            "reader_test.xlsx",
+            "var1",
+            does_not_raise(),
+            (),
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test_load_excel(shared_datadir, caplog, file, file_var, exp_err, expected_log):
+    """Test the netdcf variable loader.
+
+    The tests here are dependent on the test_file_format_loader, so cannot be run
+    individually.
+    """
+
+    from virtual_ecosystem.core.readers import load_excel
+
+    with exp_err:
+        darray = load_excel(shared_datadir / file, file_var)
+        assert isinstance(darray, DataArray)
+
+    # Check the error reports
+    log_check(caplog, expected_log)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     argnames=[
         "filename",
diff --git a/virtual_ecosystem/core/readers.py b/virtual_ecosystem/core/readers.py
index ee0dce21f..ff057efbb 100644
--- a/virtual_ecosystem/core/readers.py
+++ b/virtual_ecosystem/core/readers.py
@@ -33,7 +33,10 @@ def new_function_to_load_tif_data(...):
 
 from collections.abc import Callable
 from pathlib import Path
+from zipfile import BadZipFile
 
+from pandas import read_csv, read_excel
+from pandas.errors import ParserError
 from xarray import DataArray, load_dataset
 
 from virtual_ecosystem.core.logger import LOGGER
@@ -55,7 +58,7 @@ def new_function_to_load_tif_data(...):
 """
 
 
-def register_file_format_loader(file_types: tuple[str]) -> Callable:
+def register_file_format_loader(file_types: tuple[str, ...]) -> Callable:
     """Adds a data loader function to the data loader registry.
 
     This decorator is used to register a function that loads data from a given file type
@@ -134,6 +137,88 @@ def load_netcdf(file: Path, var_name: str) -> DataArray:
     return dataset[var_name]
 
 
+@register_file_format_loader(file_types=(".csv",))
+def load_csv(file: Path, var_name: str) -> DataArray:
+    """Loads a DataArray from a csv file.
+
+    Args:
+        file: A Path for a csv or excel file containing the variable to load.
+        var_name: A string providing the name of the variables in this file.
+
+    Raises:
+        FileNotFoundError: with bad file path names.
+        ParserError: if the csv data is not readable.
+    """
+
+    to_raise: Exception
+
+    # Try to load file
+    try:
+        dataset = read_csv(file)
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        to_raise = FileNotFoundError(f"Data file not found: {file}")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+    except ParserError as err:
+        to_raise = ParserError(f"Could not load data from {file}: {err}.")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+
+    # Check if file var is in the dataset
+    if var_name not in dataset.columns:
+        to_raise = KeyError(f"Variable {var_name} not found in {file}")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+
+    return dataset[var_name].to_xarray()
+
+
+@register_file_format_loader(file_types=(".xlsx",))
+def load_excel(file: Path, var_name: str) -> DataArray:
+    """Loads a DataArray from an excel file.
+
+    Args:
+        file: A Path for a csv or excel file containing the variable to load.
+        var_name: A string providing the name of the variables in this file.
+
+    Raises:
+        FileNotFoundError: with bad file path names.
+        BadZipFile: if the excel file is corrupted.
+        Exception: catches other exceptions from openpyxl.
+
+    Note: BadZipFile is the most common error thrown by openpyxl for corrupted excel
+    files, which is based on their internal processing files as zips. The general
+    exception is included to cover other possible issues from openpyxl, as it has
+    various other potential failure modes.
+    """
+
+    to_raise: Exception
+
+    # Determine dataframe file type & load file
+    try:
+        dataset = read_excel(file, engine="openpyxl")
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        to_raise = FileNotFoundError(f"Data file not found: {file}")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+    except BadZipFile as err:
+        to_raise = BadZipFile(f"Could not load data from {file}: {err}.")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+    except Exception as err:
+        to_raise = Exception(f"Unidentified exception opening {file}: {err}")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+
+    # Check if file var is in the dataset
+    if var_name not in dataset.columns:
+        to_raise = KeyError(f"Variable {var_name} not found in {file}")
+        LOGGER.critical(to_raise)
+        raise to_raise
+
+    return dataset[var_name].to_xarray()
+
+
 def load_to_dataarray(
     file: Path,
     var_name: str,