The Seasonal and Inter-Annual Fluctuations of Plankton Abundance and Community Structure in a North Atlantic Marine Protected Area ...

• Main Authors: Benedetti, Fabio, Jalabert, Laëtitia, Sourisseau, Marc, Becker, Beatriz, Cailliau, Caroline, Desnos, Corinne, Elineau, Amanda, Irisson, Jean-Olivier, Lombard, Fabien, Picheral, Marc, Stemmann, Lars, Pouline, Patrick
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2019
• Subjects: Plankton; Marine Protected Area; size structure; Seasonality; Copepod; infoeu-repo/classification/ddc/570; Life sciences; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000341187; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/341187

Marine Protected Areas have become a major tool for the conservation of marine biodiversity and resources. Yet our understanding of their efficacy is often limited because it is measured for a few biological components, typically top predators or species of commercial interest. To achieve conservation targets, marine protected areas can benefit from ecosystem-based approaches. Within such an approach, documenting the variation of plankton indicators and their covariation with climate is crucial as plankton represent the base of the food webs. With this perspective, we sought to document the variations in the emerging properties of the plankton to better understand the dynamics of the pelagic fishes, mammals and seabirds that inhabit the region. For the first time, we analyze the temporal variations of the entire plankton community of one of the widest European protected areas, the Parc Naturel Marin de la Mer d’Iroise. We used data from several sampling transects carried out in the Iroise Sea from 2011 to ... : Frontiers in Marine Science, 6 ...