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. This project will provide a continuation of USA support for a further five years, 2011-2016. A continuation of funding by the USA will help maintain core monitoring by the CPR routes in the western Atlantic from Iceland down to the eastern margin of the USA. There is a growing awareness that the quality of marine ecosystems is subject to a wide range of impacts from climate change, acidification, eutrophication, loss of biodiversity to over fishing. Long-term observations like the CPR survey are critical in evaluating and quantifying the scale and effects of such issues as well as providing a macroscale "backbone" to an ecosystem approach to environmental management. As a long-term program the main objective of the CPR survey 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: facilitating innovative marine ecological research, data provision and model validation, contributing to international and integrated observing systems and to knowledge/policy transfer.
Intellectual merit: The project will help monitor and describe the long-term, pelagic variability and diversity in the NW Atlantic. The data collected during this program will help scientists to interpret marine biological changes and begin to distinguish between anthropogenic, climatically forced and natural plankton variability. More specifically scientific research will be directed along four science themes: (i) Macroecology and climate change impacts including ocean acidification; (ii) Biodiversity and changes to ecosystem functionality including monitoring invasive species; (iii) Sustainable use of marine bioresources; (iv) Environment, pollution and ecosystem health including monitoring microplastics. All these four themes are crucial to increasing our scientific understanding of our changing oceans and are highly relevant USA marine policy requirements. Throughout the duration of the project it is envisaged that the data collected will provide invaluable information in addressing these highly topical themes and understanding these impacts on the marine ecosystems of the NW Atlantic.
Broader impacts: The broader impact of this proposed project will be wide and will not only contribute to addressing U.S marine issues but will also significantly contribute to international programs such as IGBP/SCOR international programs as well as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). New technologies have allowed CPR samples to be analyzed using molecular techniques and collect additional oceanographic information. Products from the survey are also being used to construct and validate a new generation of ecosystem, fishery and climate models. Securing the long-term maintenance of the CPR sample archive as well as the new microbial and metazoan archive will maximize its use by the wider scientific community by making it available for molecular, biogeochemical and other studies. SAHFOS has an Associated Researcher Program and education program and continuously disseminates KT policy with the production of a website www.sahfos.ac.uk, Annual Reports and Annual Ecological Status Reports.
