Long-Term Oceanographic and Ecological Research in the Western English Channel

Southward, A. J.; Langmead, Olivia; Hardman-Mountford, Nicholas J.; Aiken, James; Boalch, G. T.; Dando, P. R.; Genner, Martin J.; Joint, Ian; Kendall, Michael A.; Halliday, N. C.; Harris, Roger P.; Leaper, R; Mieszkowska, Nova; Pingree, R. D.; Richardson, Anthony J.; Sims, David; Smith, Tania; Walne, Anthony W.; Hawkins, Stephen J.

doi:10.1016/s0065-2881(04)47001-1

Cited by 246 publications

(235 citation statements)

References 260 publications

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“…As well as increases in air and sea temperatures, coastal ecosystems are subject to additional effects of climate change, such as rises in sea level and a decrease in sea water pH associated with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels [15,16]. Many marine species are believed to exist at, or close to, their thermal tolerance limits [17], and thus are considered good early indicators of the overall effects of climate change on species' distributional ranges [18]. Unlike many terrestrial species, intertidal taxa generally lack the scope for altitudinal migration to counter the effects of warming climate and, on the whole, their ranges appear to be following the same patterns of poleward expansions in distribution as observed in terrestrial species [15,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unique genetic variation at a species' rear edge is under threat from global climate change

2011

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Global climate change is having a significant effect on the distributions of a wide variety of species, causing both range shifts and population extinctions. To date, however, no consensus has emerged on how these processes will affect the range-wide genetic diversity of impacted species. It has been suggested that species that recolonized from low-latitude refugia might harbour high levels of genetic variation in rear-edge populations, and that loss of these populations could cause a disproportionately large reduction in overall genetic diversity in such taxa. In the present study, we have examined the distribution of genetic diversity across the range of the seaweed Chondrus crispus, a species that has exhibited a northward shift in its southern limit in Europe over the last 40 years. Analysis of 19 populations from both sides of the North Atlantic using mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), sequence data from two singlecopy nuclear regions and allelic variation at eight microsatellite loci revealed unique genetic variation for all marker classes in the rear-edge populations in Iberia, but not in the rear-edge populations in North America. Palaeodistribution modelling and statistical testing of alternative phylogeographic scenarios indicate that the unique genetic diversity in Iberian populations is a result not only of persistence in the region during the last glacial maximum, but also because this refugium did not contribute substantially to the recolonization of Europe after the retreat of the ice. Consequently, loss of these rear-edge populations as a result of ongoing climate change will have a major effect on the overall genetic diversity of the species, particularly in Europe, and this could compromise the adaptive potential of the species as a whole in the face of future global warming.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unique genetic variation at a species' rear edge is under threat from global climate change

2011

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“…The Western Channel has been studied for more than 100 years, with a large contextual data set of physical, chemical and biological data (Southward et al, 2005;Smyth et al, 2010) within which to place new measurements. Station L4 is typical of UK temperate coastal waters, and is largely composed of central English Channel water with, occasionally, influences of river run-off (Siddorn et al, 2003, Rees et al, 2009).…”

Section: Study Site and Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Initially concerned with interannual variation, Russell showed that for the period [1923][1924][1925][1926][1927][1928][1929][1930][1931][1932][1933][1934][1935], there was good correspondence between mean winter phosphate maxima and young fish abundance (Russell, 1936). Later research focused on these winter concentrations of phosphate (that is, the yearly maxima), which were thought to be an important driver of long-term fluctuations in the Channel ecosystem (Russell et al, 1971;Southward et al, 2005), fluctuations that were referred to as the Russell Cycle (Cushing and Dickson, 1976). Later workers found that temperature was a major determinant of the timing of maximum fish abundance (Genner et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research was initiated in the late nineteenth century as an investigation to explain variability in the fishery (Southward et al, 2005). Among the earliest factors to be studied were temperature and a variety of chemical measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Later workers found that temperature was a major determinant of the timing of maximum fish abundance (Genner et al, 2010). A number of variations in species abundance were observed between the 1920s and the 1980s, including a decline in abundance of zooplankton, a change of the plankton community from that characterized by the chaetognath Sagitta elegans to one characterized by the more neritic species Sagitta setosa and the failure of the herring fishery off Plymouth in 1936 (Southward et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking phytoplankton community composition to seasonal changes in f-ratio

2011

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Seasonal changes in nitrogen assimilation have been studied in the western English Channel by sampling at approximately weekly intervals for 12 months. Nitrate concentrations showed strong seasonal variations. Available nitrogen in the winter was dominated by nitrate but this was close to limit of detection from May to September, after the spring phytoplankton bloom. The 15 N uptake experiments showed that nitrate was the nitrogen source for the spring phytoplankton bloom but regenerated nitrogen supported phytoplankton productivity throughout the summer. The average annual f-ratio was 0.35, which demonstrated the importance of ammonia regeneration in this dynamic temperate region. Nitrogen uptake rate measurements were related to the phytoplankton responsible by assessing the relative abundance of nitrate reductase (NR) genes and the expression of NR among eukaryotic phytoplankton. Strong signals were detected from NR sequences that are not associated with known phylotypes or cultures. NR sequences from the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum were highly represented in gene abundance and expression, and were significantly correlated with f-ratio. The results demonstrate that analysis of functional genes provides additional information, and may be able to give better indications of which phytoplankton species are responsible for the observed seasonal changes in f-ratio than microscopic phytoplankton identification.

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