Investigating the links between plankton and climate the atlantic Meridional Transect programme 1995-2012

摘要

Understanding how climate change will affect the planet, and how natural marine biological activity affects climate, are key issues for everyone,. Marine plankton have a major influence on the global budgets of atmospheric gases that are climatically active (such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide), while changes in weather patterns, increasing sea-surface temperature and increasing acidity of seawater affect the diversity, abundance and activity of marine plankton,. As well as ecological implications, any adverse impacts of climate on the ocean biota could have widespread economic implications, as marine organisms have huge socio-economic value, through food production, recreation, nutrient recycling and gas regulation (estimated at ?10 trillion yr1 globally; see Further Reading). Evaluating changes in the structure and function of marine plankton communities, and the complex interactions between plankton and the global climate system, crucially depends on ocean time-series studies undertaken over many decades. The Atlantic Meridional Transect programme (AMT) is an ocean time-series study which aims to quantify the temporal and spatial variability in the composition and activity of the plankton of the Atlantic Ocean, the environmental factors that influence this variability, and the consequences of the variability for natural processes that affect climate. To achieve its aim, since 1995 the programme has sampled up to 65 stations along a latitudinal transect between the UK and the Southern Ocean, at 6-24 month intervals (see Further Reading).