Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic
This study addresses the long-term stability of three trophic groupings in the Northeast Atlantic at regional scales. The most abundant taxa representing phytoplankton, herbivorous copepods, and carnivorous zooplankton were examined from the Continuous Plankton Recorder database. Multivariate contro...
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ftplymouthml:oai:plymsea.ac.uk:5845 2023-05-15T17:41:14+02:00 Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic McGinty, N Power, AM Johnson, MP 2012 http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/5845/ unknown McGinty, N; Power, AM; Johnson, MP. 2012 Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69 (5). 764-775. Publication - Article NonPeerReviewed 2012 ftplymouthml 2022-09-13T05:48:25Z This study addresses the long-term stability of three trophic groupings in the Northeast Atlantic at regional scales. The most abundant taxa representing phytoplankton, herbivorous copepods, and carnivorous zooplankton were examined from the Continuous Plankton Recorder database. Multivariate control charts using a Bray–Curtis similarity metric were used to assess whether fluctuations within trophic groupings were within or beyond the expected variability. Two evaluation periods were examined: annual changes between 1960 and 1999 (2000–2009 baseline) and recent changes between 2000 and 2009 (1960–1999 baseline). The trends over time in abundance/biomass of trophic levels were region-specific, especially in carnivorous copepods, where abundance did not mirror trends in the overall study area. The stability of phytoplankton was within the expected limits, although not in 2008 and 2009. Higher trophic levels were less stable, perhaps reflecting the added complexity of interactions governing their abundance. In addition, some regions were consistently less stable than others. Correlations in stability between adjacent trophic levels were positive at large marine ecosystem scale but generally non-significant at regional scales. The study suggests that certain regions may be particularly vulnerable to periods of instability in community structure. The benefits of using the control chart method rather than other multivariate measures of plankton dynamics are discussed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Copepods Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) Bray ENVELOPE(-114.067,-114.067,-74.833,-74.833) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) |
op_collection_id |
ftplymouthml |
language |
unknown |
description |
This study addresses the long-term stability of three trophic groupings in the Northeast Atlantic at regional scales. The most abundant taxa representing phytoplankton, herbivorous copepods, and carnivorous zooplankton were examined from the Continuous Plankton Recorder database. Multivariate control charts using a Bray–Curtis similarity metric were used to assess whether fluctuations within trophic groupings were within or beyond the expected variability. Two evaluation periods were examined: annual changes between 1960 and 1999 (2000–2009 baseline) and recent changes between 2000 and 2009 (1960–1999 baseline). The trends over time in abundance/biomass of trophic levels were region-specific, especially in carnivorous copepods, where abundance did not mirror trends in the overall study area. The stability of phytoplankton was within the expected limits, although not in 2008 and 2009. Higher trophic levels were less stable, perhaps reflecting the added complexity of interactions governing their abundance. In addition, some regions were consistently less stable than others. Correlations in stability between adjacent trophic levels were positive at large marine ecosystem scale but generally non-significant at regional scales. The study suggests that certain regions may be particularly vulnerable to periods of instability in community structure. The benefits of using the control chart method rather than other multivariate measures of plankton dynamics are discussed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McGinty, N Power, AM Johnson, MP |
spellingShingle |
McGinty, N Power, AM Johnson, MP Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic |
author_facet |
McGinty, N Power, AM Johnson, MP |
author_sort |
McGinty, N |
title |
Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_short |
Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_full |
Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_sort |
trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the northeast atlantic |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/5845/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-114.067,-114.067,-74.833,-74.833) |
geographic |
Bray |
geographic_facet |
Bray |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic Copepods |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic Copepods |
op_relation |
McGinty, N; Power, AM; Johnson, MP. 2012 Trophodynamics and stability of regional scale ecosystems in the Northeast Atlantic. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69 (5). 764-775. |
_version_ |
1766142678981935104 |