Project Information

Title: Continuous Plankton Recorder monitoring of plankton populations on the Alaskan Shelf 22120114-D

Project Year and Number: 2022: 22120114-D

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2024: 24120114-D , 2023: 23120114-D , 2021: 21120114-D, 2020: 20120114-D, 2019: 19120114-D, 2018: 18120114-D, 2017: 17120114-D, 2016: 16120114-A, 2015: 15120114-A, 2014: 14120114-A, 2013: 13120114-A, 2012: 12120114-A

Principal Investigator (PI): Sonia Batten (North Pacific Marine Science Organization), Clare Ostle (Marine Biological Association)

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: None

Research Location: Gulf of Alaska, Cook Inlet

Restoration Category: Monitoring

Injured Resources Addressed: Not Specified

Abstract:

As the base of marine food-webs, plankton are a fundamentally important functional group in marine ecosystems, and a reflection of current environmental conditions due to their rapid generation times and short lifecycles. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) transect samples the Alaskan shelf from lower Cook Inlet across the slope into the open Gulf of Alaska, providing a record of taxonomically resolved, seasonal, near-surface zooplankton and large phytoplankton abundance over a wide spatial scale. Sampling takes place approximately monthly, six times per year, usually between April and September. Data outputs from the project include indices of plankton abundance (e.g., large diatom abundances, estimated zooplankton biomass), seasonal cycles (phenology of key groups) and community composition (e.g., appearance of warm water species, change in dominance by some groups and sizes of plankton). Variability in any, or all, of these indices can cascade through to higher trophic levels such as herring, salmon, birds, and mammals that forage across the region. Recent results show that interannaul variability in plankton dynamics is high and that the plankton has responded to the recent warm conditions, with changes evident in abundance, sizing, composition, and timing. The CPR is designed to be easy to deploy on commercial maritime vessels and sample autonomously. Thus, CPR sampling has been unimpacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the tried and tested longevity of the CPR methodology ensuring that the samples and data are collected analysis. As climate change, and the likely associated changes in environmental conditions, continues to impact the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem it is more important than ever to maintain consistent time-series that depict these changes.

This project was approved for the FY22-FY26 funding cycle.


Proposal: View (1,640 KB)

Reports:
FY22 Annual Report: View (1,921 KB)

Publications from this Project: None Available

Resolutions: