The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey: Monitoring the Plankton of the North Atlantic

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The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey (1931 to present) is the only long-term and ocean basin wide operational survey of plankton in the world. There has been an increasing recognition of the value of this multi-decadal time series as a 'barometer' against which to assess environmental change. Operated by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS) in the North Atlantic the Survey is supported by an international consortium of funders. The USA as a member of this consortium has played a key role in helping to underpin the survey since SAHFOS was established in 1990. This project will provide for the continuation of USA support for a further five years, 2006-2010. The time-series available from the CPR are especially valuable, as there are few long data sets of marine biological information available in the world. There is a growing awareness that the quality of marine ecosystems is subject to a wide range of human impacts from pollution, eutrophication, loss of biodiversity to over fishing. Evaluating and quantifying the scale and effects of such issues is becoming increasingly important as an ecosystem approach is applied to environmental management. Superimposed on the above issues are the potential effects of climate change and acidification on oceanic ecosystems. Modelling studies indicate that such effects are likely to be more pronounced in the North Atlantic and that this region plays a key role in the climate of the world (e.g. solubility and biological pumps). The continuation of funding by the USA will help maintain the CPR routes in the western Atlantic from Iceland and down the eastern margin of the USA. Standardized methodologies will continue to be used in the survey. More than 200,000 samples have been analyzed into ~500 different taxa of zoo and phytoplankton over the more than 5 million miles that have now been towed since 1931. New breakthroughs have demonstrated the potential to apply molecular analysis and calibrate remote sensing products with CPR data. Products from the survey are also being used to construct and validate a new generation of ecosystem, fishery and climate models. SAHFOS holds a unique global expertise in taxonomy and other survey skills and is an active promoter of oceanographic education with sophisticated expertise in Knowledge Transfer. As a long-term program the main objective of the CPR program is to maintain the spatial and temporal integrity of the survey and to continue to add further years to the time series. Other objectives include: the development of an improved understanding of mechanisms behind observed decadal and shorter period spatial and temporal variability and the interpretation of hydrobiological variability and biodiversity within the context of global and climate change in marine ecosystems. Central to the aims of SAHFOS is the promotion of the CPR approach within international programs such as GOOS, GLOBEC and IMBER.