The Western Channel Observatory

Smyth, Tim; Atkinson, Angus; Widdicombe, Stephen; Frost, Matthew; Allen, Icarus; Fishwick, James; Queirós, Ana M.; Sims, David; Barangé, Manuel

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.020

Cited by 45 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The water column experiences seasonal stratification typically from about May to September each year (Maud et al ), and often a spring and autumn phytoplankton bloom (Widdicombe et al ). The station has been sampled on a weekly basis by Plymouth Marine Laboratory since 1988, initially for zooplankton and supported by an array of physical, chemical, and biological measurements (Smyth et al ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…have been found to predominate in the diet of P. elegans in particular (Grigor et al 2015). Various studies have linked C. helgolandicus abundance with chaetognath abundance (Southward 1984;Clark et al 2003;Bonnet et al 2010); and in addition Bonnet et al (2010) using molecular gut content analysis found direct evidence of year-round ingestion of C. helgolandicus by P. setosa. Of the Siphonophora, the Calycophorae Muggiaea atlantica and Muggiaea kochi are the main species at L4.…”

Section: Stage and Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mortality of Calanus helgolandicus: Sources, differences between the sexes and consumptive and nonconsumptive processes

Maud

Hirst

Atkinson

et al. 2018

Limnology & Oceanography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While losses from mortality are as important as gains from reproduction in zooplankton population dynamics, the former are more challenging to quantify. We used two approaches to provide complementary insights into the mortality of a biomass-dominant copepod, Calanus helgolandicus, at Station L4 in the English Channel. Using a neutral-red staining method, we found that dead carcasses represented a mean of 9% of the C. helgolandicus copepodites sampled. The resulting nonconsumptive mortality rates are the first that have been derived for C. helgolandicus; and estimates suggest a contribution of 0-54% (median of 4.4%) to the total mortality rate. Consumptive mortality (i.e., that due to removal by predation), dominated for most of the year and contributed a mean of 89% to total mortality. Nonconsumptive mortality increased during summer and winter, and was positively related to maximum wind speed during the preceding 72 h, indicating that extreme weather events may lead to increased mortality. Using the Vertical Life Table approach, mortality rates across the CV-adult male stage pair were on average 2.5 times greater than those of CV-adult females. Adult male consumptive mortality rates were 6 times greater than those for females; adult male nonconsumptive rates were twice those of females, suggesting that predation is of greater significance to male loss rates. Summer CV-adult mortality rates were positively correlated to temperature, and to the abundance of predatory chaetognaths and siphonophores, suggesting that the gelatinous predator assemblage is the dominant agent for population control of late stage copepodites of C. helgolandicus at L4.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stage and Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality of Calanus helgolandicus: Sources, differences between the sexes and consumptive and nonconsumptive processes

Maud

Hirst

Atkinson

et al. 2018

Limnology & Oceanography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The L4 site is a shallow (~ 54 m water depth) site 13 km SSW of Plymouth, a textbook stratifying shelf sea system that has been sampled at weekly resolution since 1988 (Southward et al ; Harris ). This provides a rich, taxon‐resolved time series of plankton coupled to profiling of physics and nutrients; a valuable resource for modelers and empiricists alike (Southward et al ; Harris ; Smyth et al ; http://www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/). L4 stratifies typically between May and September with a thermocline at ~ 10–20 m. Surface temperatures typically range from ~ 8–9°C in winter to ~ 16–17°C in summer, when surface layer macronutrients are depleted to limiting levels (Smyth et al ).…”

Section: Plankton Biomass and Seasonality At L4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plankton Biomass and Seasonality At L4mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6-17 C in summer, when surface layer macronutrients are depleted to limiting levels (Smyth et al 2015). Average surface chlorophyll a (Chl a) values range typically from~0.5 mg Chl a m −3 in winter to~2-3 mg Chl a m −3 during blooms that can occur throughout the spring to autumn period (Widdicombe et al 2010;Atkinson et al 2015).…”

Section: Plankton Biomass and Seasonality At L4mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Comment. What drives plankton seasonality in a stratifying shelf sea? Some competing and complementary theories

Atkinson

Polimene

Fileman

et al. 2018

Limnology & Oceanography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Plymouth L4 time plankton series in the Western English Channel is a textbook example of a shallow, stratifying shelf sea system. Over its 30 yr of weekly sampling, this site has provided a diverse and contrasting suite of numerical and conceptual models of plankton bloom formation, phenology, and seasonal succession. The most recent of these papers, Kenitz et al. (2017) has initiated this comment, partly because we feel that it has presented a slightly misleading picture of the plankton composition at this site, and of a robust, recurring seasonal succession. We address this by illustrating the extent of inter‐annual variability in phenology that occurs at the site, and which needs to be captured better within models. However our main aim is to foster a much better integration of the variety of top‐down and bottom‐up processes that have all been suggested to be key in driving seasonal succession. Some of these, particularly the multiple grazing and growth controls contributing to the so‐called “loophole hypothesis” may be complementary, but others, such as the role of copepod feeding traits in driving species succession (Kenitz et al. 2017) offer testable competing hypotheses. The basic assumptions and outputs of all these models need to be validated more critically, both against time series data and process studies that include the finding of unselective feeding. We suggest that the variability in plankton phenology (and not just mean timing and amplitude) could be used to diagnose the performance of alternative models of plankton succession.

show abstract

Identifying and protecting macroalgae detritus sinks toward climate change mitigation

Queirós

Tait

Clark

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Open Research: Experimental data produced during this study is publicly archived and accessible in Queirós, A. M. and C. Pascoe (2020). Mesocoms investigation of seaweed fragment degradation and skinking rates. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4309608.All field eDNA sequence data is publicly available for download at the NCBI SRA database, using the BioProject number PRJNA472452 (Eukaryote diversity assessment of sediments of the Western English Channel).Code for models FVCOM and PyLag used here has been previously published.

show abstract

The Western Channel Observatory

Cited by 45 publications

References 40 publications

Mortality of Calanus helgolandicus: Sources, differences between the sexes and consumptive and nonconsumptive processes

Mortality of Calanus helgolandicus: Sources, differences between the sexes and consumptive and nonconsumptive processes

Comment. What drives plankton seasonality in a stratifying shelf sea? Some competing and complementary theories

Identifying and protecting macroalgae detritus sinks toward climate change mitigation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About