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Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp).

Whyte, Callum; Davidson, Keith; Gilpin, Linda; Mitchell, Elaine; Moschonas, Grigorios; McNeill, Sharon; Tett, Paul

Authors

Callum Whyte

Keith Davidson

Elaine Mitchell

Grigorios Moschonas

Sharon McNeill

Paul Tett



Abstract

Microplankton plays a vital part in marine ecosystems and its importance has been recognised by the inclusion of microplankton community composition in regulatory frameworks such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as an indicator of ecological status. Quantitative techniques are therefore required to assess the environmental status of the microplankton in a water body. Here we demonstrate the use of a method known as the Microplankton Index PI(mp) to evaluate changes in the microplankton community of the West coast Scottish Sea Loch Creran. Microplankton in this fjord has been studied since the 1970’s providing a data set spanning four decades. Our analysis compares an arbitrarily chosen reference period between 1979 and 1981 with a period between 2011 and 2013 and demonstrates that between these two periods community structure has changed considerably with a substantial drop in the numbers of observed diatoms accompanied by a rise in the number of autotrophic/mixotrophic dinoflagellates as well as an increase in the potentially toxin producing genus Pseudo-nitzschia and that these are related to changes in both the intensity and timing of local patterns of precipitation. The PI(mp) is shown to be a useful and robust method to visualise and quantify changes in the underlying structure of the microplankton community and is a powerful addition to the toolbox of techniques needed to determine the health of our seas.

Citation

Whyte, C., Davidson, K., Gilpin, L., Mitchell, E., Moschonas, G., McNeill, S., & Tett, P. (2016). Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp). ICES Journal of Marine Science, 74(4), 311-325. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 14, 2016
Online Publication Date Aug 18, 2016
Publication Date Aug 18, 2016
Deposit Date Jul 6, 2016
Publicly Available Date Aug 19, 2017
Journal ICES Journal of Marine Science
Print ISSN 1054-3139
Electronic ISSN 1095-9289
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 74
Issue 4
Pages 311-325
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125
Keywords Scotland; Microplankton Community Index; Loch Creran; Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Indices; Ecological status;
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/10410
Contract Date Jul 6, 2016

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Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp) (270 Kb)
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Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in ICES Journal of Marine Science following peer review. The version of record Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. first published online August 19, 2016 doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125.


Tracking changes to a microplankton - final diagrams (4.5 Mb)
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Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in ICES Journal of Marine Science following peer review. The version of record Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. first published online August 19, 2016 doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125.


Tracking changes to a microplankton community... (83 Kb)
Document

Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in ICES Journal of Marine Science following peer review. The version of record Tracking changes to a microplankton community in a North Atlantic sea loch using the microplankton index PI(mp)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. first published online August 19, 2016 doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsw125 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw125.







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