Image_1_The Seasonal and Inter-Annual Fluctuations of Plankton Abundance and Community Structure in a North Atlantic Marine Protected Area.pdf

• Main Authors: Fabio Benedetti, Laëtitia Jalabert, Marc Sourisseau, Beatriz Becker, Caroline Cailliau, Corinne Desnos, Amanda Elineau, Jean-Olivier Irisson, Fabien Lombard, Marc Picheral, Lars Stemmann, Patrick Pouline
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Oceanography; Marine Biology; Marine Geoscience; Biological Oceanography; Chemical Oceanography; Physical Oceanography; Marine Engineering; Iroise Sea; plankton; MPA; temporal variability; community composition; size structure; North Atlantic; North East Atlantic; Copepods
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00214.s001; https://figshare.com/articles/Image_1_The_Seasonal_and_Inter-Annual_Fluctuations_of_Plankton_Abundance_and_Community_Structure_in_a_North_Atlantic_Marine_Protected_Area_pdf/8033729

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 2015 to explore the seasonal and inter-annual variations of phytoplankton and mesozooplankton abundance, composition and size, as well as their covariation with abiotic variables, through multiple multivariate analyses. Overall, our observations are coherent with the plankton dynamics that have been observed in other regions of the North-East Atlantic. We found that both phytoplankton and zooplankton show consistent seasonal patterns in taxonomic composition and size structure but also display inter-annual variations. The spring bloom was associated with a higher contribution of large chain-forming diatoms compared to nanoflagellates, the latter dominating in fall and summer. Dinoflagellates show marked inter-annual variations in their relative contribution. The community composition of phytoplankton has a large impact on the mesozooplankton together with the distance to the coast. The size structure of the mesozooplankton community, examined through the ratio of small to large copepods, also displays marked ...