THE LORN PELAGIC OBSERVATORY, THE PLANKTON INDEX, AND THE MARINE STRATEGY FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE: A KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROPOSAL

《海洋战略框架指令》（MSFD）要求欧洲咸水水域达到“良好环境状态”（GES），其定义为允许海洋生态系统“充分发挥作用，并保持其对人类引起的环境变化的适应能力”。需要采取哪些措施来确定英国海域的生态系统是功能齐全和有弹性的，或者，如果不是，指导该指令所称的“措施计划”来恢复GES？海洋生态系统在很大程度上是看不见的，它们的生物地球化学循环和食物网以生态海洋学家仍在努力理解的方式运作。尽管如此，40年来NERC沿海海洋学已经绘制出了英国大陆架周围海洋的物理特征，并揭示了物理学和生物学之间的联系。该研究为“远洋栖息地”的科学监测提供了基础，并将其作为环境状况的一个组成部分。“远洋栖息地”指的是水柱环境和浮游生物——生活在这里的漂流动物和微小藻类。Defra是英国政府部门，负责在全国范围内实施MSFD，并向欧盟委员会报告环境状况。就远洋栖息地而言，环境部在不同的自然环境中确定了一套监测站；其中一个地点位于奥本附近的洛恩湾，自2000年以来，苏格兰海洋科学协会一直定期对浮游植物进行采样。1970年，SAMS的前身SMBA首次在这里进行了观测。SAMS已经同意将目前的微藻数据输入Defra项目，Defra可能会资助一些额外的浮游动物工作。本项目的两个主要目的之一，是根据旧数据和研究报告，评估洛恩湾站的现状。第二个主要目的与用于数据分析和报告的方法有关。仔细检查含有浮游微藻的水样，或含有浮游动物的拖网样品，通常会得出一长串物种。MSFD监测计划要求每年至少采集12次样本，以跟踪浮游生物物种的季节性演替。简化这个列表的一种方法是将物种归类为“生命形式”，即浮游生物的功能单位。然后将生命形式分成两组，并将每组生命形式的丰富程度绘制在图表的水平或垂直轴上。一年的样本值在这张图上有12个（或更多）点。在生成的点云上绘制一个“参考包络”。落在这个范围之外的观测值的比例就是这一对生命形式和年份的“浮游生物指数”的值。该指数的变化可以用来跟踪生态系统状况的变化。它的计算已经计算机化，但迄今为止，这种方法一直用于研究，而不是常规监测。该项目的第二个目的是，因此，协助Defra在该方法的初步应用，使用北湾的数据作为测试用例。虽然Defra负责监督，但抽样、分析和解释工作由专门的公共机构执行，包括向英国地方政府报告的机构。其中一个机构是贝尔法斯特的“农业食品和生物科学研究所”，它领导了一个负责设计监测远洋栖息地战略的联盟。尽管该项目的最终利益属于公共利益，指定受益人是Defra，但AFBI将在拟议的“知识交流”中成为SAMS的直接合作伙伴。

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires 'Good Environmental Status' (GES) in European salt waters, defined as allowing marine ecosystems "to function fully and to maintain their resilience to human-induced environmental change". What measurements are needed to establish that ecosystems in UK seas are fully-functional and resilient, or, if not, to direct what the Directive calls "programmes of measures" to restore GES? Marine ecosystems are largely out of sight, and their biogeochemical cycles and food webs operate in ways that ecological oceanographers are still struggling to understand. Nevertheless, 4 decades of NERC coastal oceanography has mapped the physical features of the seas that overly the UK continental shelf and shone light on the links between physics and biology. This research provides the basis for science-based monitoring of the 'pelagic habitat' as a component of Environmental Status. 'Pelagic habitat' refers to the water column environment and the plankton - the drifting animals and microscopic algae that live here. Defra is the UK government department responsible for the national implementation of the MSFD, and for reporting environmental status to the European Commission. In the case of the pelagic habitat Defra has identified a set of monitoring stations in different physical regimes; one of these sites, in the Firth of Lorn near Oban, is where phytoplankton has been regularly sampled by the Scottish Association for Marine Science since 2000. Observations were first made here in 1970 by SAMS' precursor SMBA. SAMS has already agreed to input current micro-algal data to the Defra programme, and Defra may fund some additional zooplankton work. One of the two main purposes of the present project is to to evaluate, for the purposes of MSFD reporting, the present condition of the Firth of Lorn station in relation to older data and research studies.The second main purpose relates to the methods used for data analysis and reporting. Scrutiny of a water sample containing planktonic micro-algae, or a tow-net sample containing planktonic animals, usually results in a long list of species. The MSFD monitoring programme requires samples to be taken at least 12 times a year, in order to keep track of the seasonal succession of plankton species. One way to simplify this list is to group species into the 'lifeforms' that are the functional units of the plankton. Lifeforms are then grouped in pairs, and the abundance of each of the pair's lifeforms plotted against the horizontal or vertical axis of a graph. A year's worth of samples results in 12 (or more) points on this graph. Over the resulting cloud of points is drawn a 'reference envelope'. The proportion of observations falling outside this envelope is the value of the 'Plankton index' for this lifeform pair and year. Changes in the index can be used to track change in ecosystem condition. Its calculation has been computerized, but the method has so far been used for research rather than routine monitoring. The second purpose of the project is, thus, to assist Defra in the initial application of the method, using the Firth of Lorn data as a test case. While Defra has oversight, the work of sampling, analysis and interpretation is performed by specialized public bodies including those reporting to the devolved administrations in the UK. One of these bodies is AFBI, the 'Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute' in Belfast, which led the consortium charged with designing the strategy for monitoring the pelagic habitat. Although the ultimate benefit of this project falls to the public good, and the designated benficiary is Defra, AFBI will be the immediate partner for SAMS in the proposed 'knowledge exchange'.