The Zooplankton and the
Phytoplankton and Microbial Plankton Status Reports now cover
time-series of 40 and close to 100 sites respectively, located in Western and Eastern North
Atlantic, Nordic, Barents, Baltic, North Sea, Northwestern Iberian, and
Mediterranean seas. Parallel reports on hydrography also exist. Hence, there is
potential for more complex joint analysis of existing time-series data on
phytoplankton and other planktonic microbes, zooplankton, hydrography, and
climate as summarized in the existing ICES Plankton Status Reports time-series
data.
Synthesis of these data
provides an opportunity to create a more comprehensive examination of long-term
plankton community changes, food web dynamics/shifts and more precise model
parametizations. The understanding of the ecosystem change due to climate and anthropogenic
impacts may benefit from the multiple time-series analyses. The results of the Workshop will provide ICES
with a synthetic pan-regional view of the relationships between the
physical, chemical environment and plankton communities in the context of
climate change.
