Data from: Sensitivity of marine protected area network connectivity to atmospheric variability ...

• Main Authors: Fox, Alan D., Henry, Lea-Anne, Corne, David W., Roberts, J. Muray, Roberts, J. Murray
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: inter-annual variability; cold-water coral; Marine protected area; North Atlantic Oscillation; particle tracking; Lophelia pertusa; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2hf38; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.2hf38

International efforts are underway to establish well-connected systems of marine protected areas (MPAs) covering at least 10% of the ocean by 2020. But the nature and dynamics of ocean ecosystem connectivity are poorly understood, with unresolved effects of climate variability. We used 40-year runs of a particle tracking model to examine the sensitivity of an MPA network for habitat-forming cold-water corals in the northeast Atlantic to changes in larval dispersal driven by atmospheric cycles and larval behaviour. Trajectories of Lophelia pertusa larvae were strongly correlated to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the dominant pattern of interannual atmospheric circulation variability over the northeast Atlantic. Variability in trajectories significantly altered network connectivity and source–sink dynamics, with positive phase NAO conditions producing a well-connected but asymmetrical network connected from west to east. Negative phase NAO produced reduced connectivity, but notably some larvae tracked ... : RSOS160494_Python_CodePython scripts for the particle tracking model and data processing. ...