Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp)
Microplankton plays a vital part in marine ecosystems, and its importance has been recognized by the inclusion of microplankton community composition in regulatory frameworks such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as an indicator of ecological stat...
Published in: | ICES Journal of Marine Science |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2016
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/74/1/311/31243390/fsw125.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 2024-09-15T18:23:45+00:00 Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) Whyte, Callum Davidson, Keith Gilpin, Linda Mitchell, Elaine Moschonas, Grigorios McNeill, Sharon Tett, Paul Sathyendranath, Shubha 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/74/1/311/31243390/fsw125.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model ICES Journal of Marine Science volume 74, issue 1, page 311-325 ISSN 1054-3139 1095-9289 journal-article 2016 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 2024-08-27T04:17:13Z Microplankton plays a vital part in marine ecosystems, and its importance has been recognized by the inclusion of microplankton community composition in regulatory frameworks such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as an indicator of ecological status. Quantitative techniques are therefore required to assess the environmental status of the microplankton in a water body. Here we demonstrate the use of a method known as the microplankton index PI(mp) to evaluate changes in the microplankton community of the west coast Scottish Sea Loch Creran. Microplankton in this fjord has been studied since the 1970s, providing a data set spanning four decades. Our analysis compares an arbitrarily chosen reference period between 1979 and 1981 with a period between 2011 and 2013 and demonstrates that between these two periods community structure has changed considerably with a substantial drop in the numbers of observed diatoms accompanied by a rise in the number of autotrophic/mixotrophic dinoflagellates as well as an increase in the potentially toxin producing genus Pseudo-nitzschia and that these are related to changes in both the intensity and timing of local patterns of precipitation. The PI(mp) is shown to be a useful and robust method to visualize and quantify changes in the underlying structure of the microplankton community and is a powerful addition to the toolbox of techniques needed to determine the health of our seas. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Oxford University Press ICES Journal of Marine Science 74 1 311 325 |
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Open Polar |
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Oxford University Press |
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croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Microplankton plays a vital part in marine ecosystems, and its importance has been recognized by the inclusion of microplankton community composition in regulatory frameworks such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as an indicator of ecological status. Quantitative techniques are therefore required to assess the environmental status of the microplankton in a water body. Here we demonstrate the use of a method known as the microplankton index PI(mp) to evaluate changes in the microplankton community of the west coast Scottish Sea Loch Creran. Microplankton in this fjord has been studied since the 1970s, providing a data set spanning four decades. Our analysis compares an arbitrarily chosen reference period between 1979 and 1981 with a period between 2011 and 2013 and demonstrates that between these two periods community structure has changed considerably with a substantial drop in the numbers of observed diatoms accompanied by a rise in the number of autotrophic/mixotrophic dinoflagellates as well as an increase in the potentially toxin producing genus Pseudo-nitzschia and that these are related to changes in both the intensity and timing of local patterns of precipitation. The PI(mp) is shown to be a useful and robust method to visualize and quantify changes in the underlying structure of the microplankton community and is a powerful addition to the toolbox of techniques needed to determine the health of our seas. |
author2 |
Sathyendranath, Shubha |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Whyte, Callum Davidson, Keith Gilpin, Linda Mitchell, Elaine Moschonas, Grigorios McNeill, Sharon Tett, Paul |
spellingShingle |
Whyte, Callum Davidson, Keith Gilpin, Linda Mitchell, Elaine Moschonas, Grigorios McNeill, Sharon Tett, Paul Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) |
author_facet |
Whyte, Callum Davidson, Keith Gilpin, Linda Mitchell, Elaine Moschonas, Grigorios McNeill, Sharon Tett, Paul |
author_sort |
Whyte, Callum |
title |
Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) |
title_short |
Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) |
title_full |
Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) |
title_fullStr |
Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) |
title_sort |
tracking changes to a microplankton community in a north atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index pi(mp) |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/74/1/311/31243390/fsw125.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ICES Journal of Marine Science volume 74, issue 1, page 311-325 ISSN 1054-3139 1095-9289 |
op_rights |
https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 |
container_title |
ICES Journal of Marine Science |
container_volume |
74 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
311 |
op_container_end_page |
325 |
_version_ |
1810464015749480448 |