Co-Convenors: Hans Paerl (USA) and Kedong Yin (China)

Invited Speaker:
William Li (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, DFO, Canada)

Phytoplankton biomass and community structure have undergone dramatic changes in coastal ecosystems over the past several decades in response to climate variability and human disturbance. These changes have short- and longer-term impacts on global carbon and nutrient cycling, food web structure and productivity, and coastal ecosystem services. There is a need to identify the underlying processes and measure rates at which they alter coastal ecosystems on a global scale. Hence, the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) formed Working Group 137 (WG 137) on Global Patterns of Phytoplankton Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems: Comparative Analysis of Time Series Observations (http://wg137.net/). To address fundamental questions that emerged, WG 137 will use data compiled from 84 sampling stations, representing research and monitoring programs spread across five continents, and is seeking additional time series of coastal/estuarine/near-shore phytoplankton and relevant hydrographic data. Investigators with decadal observational data are encouraged to contribute to this growing compilation and discuss interests in collaboration. The wealth of information in these data sets provides an unprecedented opportunity to develop a global analysis and investigation of the dynamics and status of ecosystems where land and sea meet. The workshop will cover conceptual models of phytoplankton community variability and quantitative approaches for extracting patterns from time series.