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Changes in marine dinoflagellate and diatom abundance under climate change

journal contribution
posted on 2012-01-01, 00:00 authored by S Hinder, Graeme HaysGraeme Hays, M Edwards, E Roberts, A Walne, M Gravenor
Marine diatoms and dinoflagellates play a variety of key ecosystem roles as important primary producers (diatoms and some dinoflagellates) and grazers (some dinoflagellates). Additionally some are harmful algal bloom (HAB) species and there is widespread concern that HAB species may be increasing accompanied by major negative socio-economic impacts, including threats to human health and marine harvesting1, 2. Using 92,263 samples from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey, we generated a 50-year (1960–2009) time series of diatom and dinoflagellate occurrence in the northeast Atlantic and North Sea. Dinoflagellates, including both HAB taxa (for example, Prorocentrum spp.) and non-HAB taxa (for example, Ceratium furca), have declined in abundance, particularly since 2006. In contrast, diatom abundance has not shown this decline with some common diatoms, including both HAB (for example, Pseudo-nitzschia spp.) and non-HAB (for example, Thalassiosira spp.) taxa, increasing in abundance. Overall these changes have led to a marked increase in the relative abundance of diatoms versus dinoflagellates. Our analyses, including Granger tests to identify criteria of causality, indicate that this switch is driven by an interaction effect of both increasing sea surface temperatures combined with increasingly windy conditions in summer.

History

Journal

Nature climate change

Volume

2

Pagination

271 - 275

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Location

New York, N.Y.

ISSN

1758-678X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2002, Nature Publishing Group