Fish data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey has been sampling plankton in the North Sea since 1931. However the identification of the larval and juvenile fish taken in the survey has not been a part of the routine analysis of the samples. Specialist analysis of the fish was carried out between 1948 and the early 1980s but the data were available as hard copy only. As part of MarBEF, data on >60 taxa from 1948 to 1972 have been entered on a database which is now linked to EUROBIS to show the biogeographical information and the data are available for general research. Examples of the data are shown. These data provide a background on the variability of fish stocks before the recent period of rapid warming and in some cases before significant fisheries developed. Data for subsequent years will be made available as possible and work is now underway to bring the analysis up to date. This will provide time series over six decades.

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.

Dip in the gene pool: metagenomic survey of natural coccolithovirus communities

Despite the global oceanic distribution and recognized biogeochemical impact of coccolithoviruses (EhV), their diversity remains poorly understood. Here we employed a metagenomic approach to study the occurrence and progression of natural EhV community genomic variability. Analysis of EhV metagenomes from the early and late stages of an induced bloom led to three main discoveries. First, we observed resilient and specific genomic signatures in the EhV community associated with the Norwegian coast, which reinforce the existence of limitations to the capacity of dispersal and genomic exchange among EhV populations. Second, we identified a hyper-variable region (approximately 21 kbp long) in the coccolithovirus genome. Third, we observed a clear trend for EhV relative amino-acid diversity to reduce from early to late stages of the bloom. This study validated two new methodological combinations, and proved very useful in the discovery of new genomic features associated with coccolithovirus natural communities.

Continuous Plankton Records: General Introduction to the 1938-39 Survey

The Bulletins in this volume, except the last, deal entirely with the results of this expanded survey of 1938 and 1939. They show for the first time, month by month, the main changes in the plankton over practically the whole of the North Sea for a year and eight months. They form an important basis for comparison with the results of the post-war survey, revived on an even more extensive scale and to be described in later volumes.

Marine baseline and monitoring strategies for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS)

The QICS controlled release experiment demonstrates that leaks of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas can be detected by monitoring acoustic, geochemical and biological parameters within a given marine system. However the natural complexity and variability of marine system responses to (artificial) leakage strongly suggests that there are no absolute indicators of leakage or impact that can unequivocally and universally be used for all potential future storage sites. We suggest a multivariate, hierarchical approach to monitoring, escalating from anomaly detection to attribution, quantification and then impact assessment, as required. Given the spatial heterogeneity of many marine ecosystems it is essential that environmental monitoring programmes are supported by a temporally (tidal, seasonal and annual) and spatially resolved baseline of data from which changes can be accurately identified. In this paper we outline and discuss the options for monitoring methodologies and identify the components of an appropriate baseline survey.

Catlin Arctic Survey 2010 Environmental data

The citation text is: Findlay H.S. (2015). Catlin Arctic Survey 2010 Environmental data. British Oceanographic Data Centre - Natural Environment Research Council, UK. doi:10/767.

Dip in the gene pool: metagenomic survey of natural coccolithovirus communities

Despite the global oceanic distribution and recognised biogeochemical impact of coccolithoviruses (EhV), their diversity remains poorly understood. Here we employed a metagenomic approach to study the occurrence and progression of natural EhV community genomic variability. Analysis of EhV metagenomes from the early and late stages of an induced bloom led to three main discoveries. First, we observed resilient and specific genomic signatures in the EhV community associated with the Norwegian coast, which reinforce the existence of limitations to the capacity of dispersal and genomic exchange among EhV populations. Second, we identified a hyper-variable region (approximately 21kbp long) in the coccolithovirus genome. Third, we observed a clear trend for EhV relative amino-acid diversity to reduce from early to late stages of the bloom. This study validated two new methodological combinations, and proved very useful in the discovery of new genomic features associated with coccolithovirus natural communities.

LibQUAL+ Survey 2004 @ Queen's University Library : analysis of results

Queen's University Library was one of 202 libraries, including 57 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), to survey its users in spring 2004 using the LibQUAL+ survey instrument. LibQUAL+ was designed by ARL to assist libraries in assessing the quality of their services and identifying areas for improvement. # Overall: Queen's scored higher than the average for all ARL participants and 1st among the 2004 Canadian participants. This relatively high rating is due to very high scores in the dimensions of Library as Place and Affect of Service. However, there is considerable need for improvement in the area of Information Control where Queen's rated well below the ARL average. # Affect of Service: Queen's strong overall ratings are supported by the many respondent comments praising customer service throughout the system. The ratings and survey comments indicate greatest appreciation by faculty and more experienced students (e.g. graduate students) for the instruction and on-site services provided by the libraries. The ratings also indicate that undergraduates, growing up with the web, want and expected to be able to access library resources independently and do not value these services as highly. The comments also indicated some specific areas for improvement throughout the library system. # Library as Place : All Queen's libraries except for Law ranked well above the ARL and Canadian averages. Overall, Library as Place ranked lowest in importance among the service dimensions for all ARL participants including Queen's. Comparative analysis of LibQUAL results since the survey began shows a decline in “desired” ratings for Library as Place. However, undergraduates continue to give strong "desired" ratings to certain aspects of Library as Place and a relatively high rating for "minimum expected" service. The comments from Queen's survey respondents and ARL's analyses of focus groups indicate that undergraduates value the library much more as a place to study and work with peers rather than for its on-site resources and services. # Information Control: This is the area in greatest need of attention. While it ranked highest in importance for all user groups by a wide margin, Queen's performed poorly in this category. Overall, Queen's ranked far below both the ARL average and the top three Canadian scores. However, the major dissatisfaction was concentrated in the humanities/social sciences (Stauffer primary users) and the health sciences (Bracken primary users) where the overall rating of perceived service quality ranked below the minimum expected service rating. Primary users of the Education, Engineering/Science and Law libraries rated this service dimension higher than the ARL average. The great success of the Canadian National Site License Program (CNSLP) is reflected in the high overall rating generated by Engineering/Science Library users. The low ratings from the humanities and social sciences are supported by respondents' comments and are generally consistent with other ARL participants.

LibQUAL+ Survey 2007 at Queen’s University Library: Analysis of Results

Analysis of 2007 LibQUAL+ results from the survey conducted by Queen's University in February 2007.

2007 LibQUAL+™ Survey @ Queen's: Findings and Actions

Summary of the finding from the 2007 Queen's LibQUAL+ survey and action items developed by the Library.