Nutrient budgets for European seas: A measure of the effectiveness of nutrient reduction policies

Socio-economic development in Europe has exerted increasing pressure on the marine environment. Eutrophication, caused by nutrient enrichment, is evident in regions of all European seas. Its severity varies but has, in places, adversely impacted socio-economic activities. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of recently adopted policies to reduce anthropogenic nutrient inputs to European seas. Nitrogen and phosphorus budgets were constructed for three different periods (prior to severe eutrophication, during severe eutrophication and contemporary) to capture changes in the relative importance of different nutrient sources in four European seas suffering from eutrophication (Baltic Proper, coastal North Sea, Northern Adriatic and North-Western Black Sea Shelf). Policy success is evident for point sources, notably for P in the Baltic and North Seas, but reduction of diffuse sources has been more problematic.

Pattern and scale of variability among Northwest Atlantic Shelf plankton communities

Continuous plankton recorders (CPRs) have been used in the Northwest Atlantic for almost 50 years. While data collected by these surveys have provided valuable information on long-term variability in plankton populations, all previous analyses have been limited to only a portion of the geographic range of the available data. Here we present an analysis of the CPR data from the Mid Atlantic Bight to the Labrador Sea. Across this wide geographic range, we found many common associations among the taxa. In particular, the changes in most regions were strongly size structured, with small and medium copepods varying together and often positively related to indicators of phytoplankton abundance. The time series from nearby regions were strongly correlated; however, after 1990, the spatial pattern became more complex. During this period, several of the copepod taxa, noticeably Calanus finmarchicus and Centropages typicus, experienced a series of anomalies that appeared to propagate from northeast to southwest. Although the direction of propagation was consistent with the shelf circulation, the anomalies propagated at a rate much slower than typical current speeds. The timing of the copepod anomalies and their phase speed were similar in character to observed changes in salinity and the position of the Shelf Slope Front. The correspondence between the changes in the plankton community and changes in the physical environmental suggests that physical conditions are a strong driver of interannual variability in Northwest Atlantic Shelf ecosystems.

Going Global: planning the next 80 years of the Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey

Going Global: planning the next 80 years of the Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey. Operated by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey is the world’s largest, sampling 4 ocean basins, and longest running (since 1931) plankton biodiversity monitoring programme. Having sampled enough miles to circumnavigate the globe over 200 times, the CPR database houses over 2.5 million entries, describing the distribution of 500 phytoplankton and zooplankton taxa. Routinely sampling in the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans, the survey analyses 4000 samples yearly. Data collected from these samples are made freely available for bona fide scientific purposes. The CPR survey data is used to generate a better understanding of changes in the plankton and to date some 1000 papers have been published on plankton biodiversity. This year sees the 80th anniversary of the CPR survey and to celebrate and build upon this unique monitoring programme, SAHFOS intends to further develop its global plankton perspective. Work will be extended into the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean and an international partnership with complementary surveys in Australia, Canada, America, Japan and South Africa will be implemented. The Digital Object will describe the CPR survey using compilations made by Plymouth Art College and BBC film footage.