Tag Archives: Plankton

Assessing the state of marine biodiversity in the Northeast Atlantic – for the first time, ever!

A paper has recently come out that I’m really, really proud of. As you might (or might not!) know, the EU countries are committed to achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) in their marine waters under the EU Marine Strategy Framework … Continue reading

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Come do a PhD with me!

Developing meaningful marine biodiversity indicators to support conservation I’m looking for an exceptional candidate to carry out an interdisciplinary PhDship at University of Plymouth, in collaboration with Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Marine Biological Association. The PhD is co-funded with … Continue reading

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Plankton Highlights 2020

It’s been a busy year in plankton science for policy in the UK and OSPAR. Much of our work focused on further developing our ability to assess the state of pelagic habitats through the Improving Confidence Evaluating GES for Regional … Continue reading

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Plankton on the move

The distribution of organisms globally is governed by the range of environmental conditions each organism can tolerate. For example, temperature is a key variable structuring the distribution of life on earth. Whereas some organisms have wide temperature tolerance, so can … Continue reading

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Why do we need a global plankton diversity monitoring programme?

When most people think of biodiversity they think of iconic habitats like rainforests and coral reefs. Much of the ocean’s biodiversity, however, is too small to see without a microscope. Plankton are one of the most diverse groups of organisms … Continue reading

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Funded PhD research studentship!

Come do a PhD with the Plankton team at University of Plymouth! Applications are invited for a three and a half years PhD studentship. The studentship will start on 1 October 2019. Director of Studies: Professor Philip (Chris) Reid Second Supervisor: Dr … Continue reading

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Assessing pelagic habitats: Changes in plankton diversity

EU Member States are required to assess the Good Environmental Status (GES) of their pelagic habitats under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). OSPAR has coordinated this process in the Northeast Atlantic, supporting the development of a suite of three … Continue reading

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Using plankton lifeforms to assess the state of the pelagic habitat

Change in plankton communities can affect the functioning of marine ecosystems. Plankton play a critical role in global oxygen production (one out of every two breaths we take was produced by phytoplankton!), are integral to nutrient and carbon cycling, and … Continue reading

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Increasing Confidence in Evaluating GES for Regional Assessments of Pelagic Habitats – ICEGRAPH

We’ve just had a new project funded! ICEGRAPH: Increasing Confidence in Evaluating GES for Regional Assessments of Pelagic Habitats is a £190,000 project funded by EMFF/MMO to fill some of the scientific gaps around assessing state and understanding change in pelagic … Continue reading

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Putting a historical plankton dataset to work for marine policy challenges

In marine ecology, it is widely accepted that monitoring data spanning long time-scales are essential for understanding ecosystem change, especially for the detection of community shifts linked to climate variability. Data spanning multiple decades are also essential for biodiversity policy, … Continue reading

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