Major declines in NE Atlantic plankton contrast with more stable populations in the rapidly warming North Sea.

Autor: Holland MM; Marine Conservation Research Group, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom. Electronic address: matt.holland@plymouth.ac.uk., Louchart A; Laboratoire d'Océanologie et Geosciences, UMR 8187 LOG, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, Université de Lille, IRD, Wimereux, France., Artigas LF; Laboratoire d'Océanologie et Geosciences, UMR 8187 LOG, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, Université de Lille, IRD, Wimereux, France., Ostle C; The Marine Biological Association (MBA), The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, United Kingdom., Atkinson A; Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Prospect Place, The Hoe, PL1 3DH, Plymouth, United Kingdom., Rombouts I; Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Marine Observation Centre (MOC), InnovOcean Campus, Jacobsenstraat 1, 8400 Oostende, Belgium., Graves CA; Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Rd, Weymouth DT4 8UB, United Kingdom., Devlin M; Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Rd, Weymouth DT4 8UB, United Kingdom., Heyden B; AquaEcology GmbH & Co. KG, Steinkamp 19, 26125 Oldenburg, Germany., Machairopoulou M; Marine Scotland Science, 375 Victoria Road, AB11 9DB Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom., Bresnan E; Marine Scotland Science, 375 Victoria Road, AB11 9DB Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom., Schilder J; Waterkwaliteit en Natuurbeheer, Rijkswaterstaat, Postbus 2232, 3500 GE Utrecht, Netherlands., Jakobsen HH; Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark., Lloyd-Hartley H; Dove Marine Laboratory, Newcastle University, Front Street, Cullercoats, North Shields NE30 4PZ, United Kingdom., Tett P; Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, PA37 1QA, Scotland, United Kingdom., Best M; Environment Agency, Kingfisher House, Goldhay Way, Peterborough PE2 5ZR, United Kingdom., Goberville E; Unité Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, IRD, Sorbonne Université, Université de Caen Normandie, Université des Antilles, Paris, France., McQuatters-Gollop A; Marine Conservation Research Group, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2023 Nov 10; Vol. 898, pp. 165505. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 12.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165505
Abstrakt: Plankton form the base of marine food webs, making them important indicators of ecosystem status. Changes in the abundance of plankton functional groups, or lifeforms, can affect higher trophic levels and can indicate important shifts in ecosystem functioning. Here, we extend this knowledge by combining data from Continuous Plankton Recorder and fixed-point stations to provide the most comprehensive analysis of plankton time-series for the North-East Atlantic and North-West European shelf to date. We analysed 24 phytoplankton and zooplankton datasets from 15 research institutions to map 60-year abundance trends for 8 planktonic lifeforms. Most lifeforms decreased in abundance (e.g. dinoflagellates: -5 %, holoplankton: -7 % decade -1 ), except for meroplankton, which increased 12 % decade -1 , reflecting widespread changes in large-scale and localised processes. K-means clustering of assessment units according to abundance trends revealed largely opposing trend direction between shelf and oceanic regions for most lifeforms, with North Sea areas characterised by increasing coastal abundance, while abundance decreased in North-East Atlantic areas. Individual taxa comprising each phytoplankton lifeform exhibited similar abundance trends, whereas taxa grouped within zooplankton lifeforms were more variable. These regional contrasts are counterintuitive, since the North Sea which has undergone major warming, changes in nutrients, and past fisheries perturbation has changed far less, from phytoplankton to fish larvae, as compared to the more slowly warming North-East Atlantic with lower nutrient supply and fishing pressure. This more remote oceanic region has shown a major and worrying decline in the traditional food web. Although the causal mechanisms remain unclear, declining abundance of key planktonic lifeforms in the North-East Atlantic, including diatoms and copepods, are a cause of major concern for the future of food webs and should provide a red flag to politicians and policymakers about the prioritisation of future management and adaptation measures required to ensure future sustainable use of the marine ecosystem.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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