Global phytoplankton decline over the past century

Daniel G. Boyce (), Marlon R. Lewis and Boris Worm
Additional contact information
Daniel G. Boyce: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4J1
Marlon R. Lewis: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4J1
Boris Worm: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4J1

Nature, 2010, vol. 466, issue 7306, 591-596

Abstract: Abstract In the oceans, ubiquitous microscopic phototrophs (phytoplankton) account for approximately half the production of organic matter on Earth. Analyses of satellite-derived phytoplankton concentration (available since 1979) have suggested decadal-scale fluctuations linked to climate forcing, but the length of this record is insufficient to resolve longer-term trends. Here we combine available ocean transparency measurements and in situ chlorophyll observations to estimate the time dependence of phytoplankton biomass at local, regional and global scales since 1899. We observe declines in eight out of ten ocean regions, and estimate a global rate of decline of ∼1% of the global median per year. Our analyses further reveal interannual to decadal phytoplankton fluctuations superimposed on long-term trends. These fluctuations are strongly correlated with basin-scale climate indices, whereas long-term declining trends are related to increasing sea surface temperatures. We conclude that global phytoplankton concentration has declined over the past century; this decline will need to be considered in future studies of marine ecosystems, geochemical cycling, ocean circulation and fisheries.

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09268 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:466:y:2010:i:7306:d:10.1038_nature09268

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature09268

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().