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  • Brief Communications Arising
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Is there a decline in marine phytoplankton?

Naturevolume 472, pagesE6–E7 (2011)Cite this article

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ABrief Communications Arising to this article was published on 13 April 2011

Abstract

Arising from D. G. Boyce, M. R. Lewis & B. WormNature466, 591–596 (2010)10.1038/nature09268; Boyceet al.reply

Phytoplankton account for approximately 50% of global primary production, form the trophic base of nearly all marine ecosystems, are fundamental in trophic energy transfer and have key roles in climate regulation, carbon sequestration and oxygen production. Boyceet al.1 compiled a chlorophyll index by combiningin situ chlorophyll and Secchi disk depth measurements that spanned a more than 100-year time period and showed a decrease in marine phytoplankton biomass of approximately 1% of the global median per year over the past century. Eight decades of data on phytoplankton biomass collected in the North Atlantic by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey2, however, show an increase in an index of chlorophyll (Phytoplankton Colour Index) in both the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic basins3,4,5,6,7 (Fig. 1), and other long-term time series, including the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT)8, the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS)8 and the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI)9 also indicate increased phytoplankton biomass over the last 20–50 years. These findings, which were not discussed by Boyceet al.1, are not in accordance with their conclusions and illustrate the importance of using consistent observations when estimating long-term trends.

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Figure 1:Results from the CPR survey show increased phytoplankton in most regions of the North Atlantic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK

    Abigail McQuatters-Gollop, Philip C. Reid, Martin Edwards, Peter H. Burkill, Claudia Castellani & Sonia Batten

  2. University of Groningen, ESRIG, Dept. Ocean Ecosystems, Nijenborgh 4, NL – 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands

    Winfried Gieskes

  3. Fisheries Department, Wageningen IMARES, Haringkade 1, 1976 CP Ijmuiden, The Netherlands

    Doug Beare

  4. University of Hawaii, Center for Marine Microbial Ecology and Diversity, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, 96822, Hawaii, USA

    Robert R. Bidigare

  5. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, PO Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y 4A2, Canada

    Erica Head

  6. Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, St. George’s, GE 01, Bermuda

    Rod Johnson

  7. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    Mati Kahru & J. Anthony Koslow

  8. Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, PO Box 6000, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4B2, Canada

    Angelica Pena

Authors
  1. Abigail McQuatters-Gollop

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  2. Philip C. Reid

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  3. Martin Edwards

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  4. Peter H. Burkill

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  5. Claudia Castellani

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  6. Sonia Batten

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  7. Winfried Gieskes

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  8. Doug Beare

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  9. Robert R. Bidigare

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  10. Erica Head

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  11. Rod Johnson

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  12. Mati Kahru

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  13. J. Anthony Koslow

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  14. Angelica Pena

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Corresponding author

Correspondence toAbigail McQuatters-Gollop.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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McQuatters-Gollop, A., Reid, P., Edwards, M.et al. Is there a decline in marine phytoplankton?.Nature472, E6–E7 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09950

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Global phytoplankton decline over the past century

  • Daniel G. Boyce
  • Marlon R. Lewis
  • Boris Worm
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