{"id":4384,"date":"2018-01-10T07:09:54","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T07:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/old.azti.com\/?p=16753"},"modified":"2020-01-28T12:49:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T11:49:40","slug":"the-size-of-marine-plankton-is-key-to-its-global-dispersal-and-distribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.azti.es\/en\/the-size-of-marine-plankton-is-key-to-its-global-dispersal-and-distribution\/","title":{"rendered":"The size of marine plankton is key to its global dispersal and distribution"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>The international study led by AZTI has concluded that, for plankton, the larger the body size the smaller the connection between communities.<\/li>\n<li>The results of the study show that dispersal is more important than environmental factors.<\/li>\n<li>Knowing which factors affect the distribution of planktonic species is essential in order to understand how global change will affect marine ecosystem performance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(Pasaia, 10 January 2018)<\/em> In a paper published in the latest issue of Nature Communications a group of international researchers, led by AZTI scientists, shows that the size of marine plankton is key to its global dispersal and distribution. It is an important discovery because plankton form the base of the food chain in the sea, produce 50% of the oxygen we breathe and also remove CO<sub>2<\/sub> from the atmosphere. These functions depend on the distribution of the different plankton species and on their body size.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the study entitled \u201cLarge-scale ocean connectivity and planktonic body size\u201d, an international team of researchers has discovered a negative relationship between the dispersal scales of various plankton and micro-nekton groups and their body size. The groups that were addressed included a wide range of communities and sizes, from bacteria to small mesopelagic fish, including microalgae and zooplankton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ocean is the largest continuous environment on earth and in the long term all marine ecosystems are interconnected by ocean currents\u201d explains Ernesto Villarino, AZTI researcher and main author of the study. He says, however, that \u201cbiological connectivity or the exchange of individuals across geographically separated subpopulations is not uniform, as there are barriers that hinder their dispersal. Identifying which factors affect the distribution of planktonic species is essential for understanding how global change will affect marine ecosystem performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As well as AZTI researchers, scientists from institutions in Spain, US, Sweden, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have taken part in the study, and its results show that dispersal is more important than environmental conditions (like sea temperature and nutrients, for example) in the distribution of global planktonic diversity.<\/p>\n<p>The second result shows that there is a negative correlation between plankton body size and scale of dispersal; that is, the larger the planktonic body size is, the smaller the connection will be between communities. This happens because smaller species are more abundant and tend to be more dispersed by currents.<\/p>\n<p>The data for the study was collected during the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation expedition, which generated a consistent and high-resolution inventory of the deep ocean ecosystem and biodiversity. The study that has just been published contributes to the understanding of how marine biodiversity is maintained locally and structured spatially.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reference: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Villarino, E., Watson, JR., J\u00f6nsson, B., Gasol, JM., Salazar, G., Acinas, SG.,\u00a0 Estrada, M., Massana, R., Logares, R., Giner, CR., Pernice, MC., Olivar, MP.,\u00a0 Citores, L., Corell, J.,\u00a0 Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, N., Acu\u00f1a, JL, Molina-Ramirez, A., Gonz\u00e1lez-Gordillo, JI., Cozar, A.,\u00a0 Mart\u00ed, E.,\u00a0 Cuesta, JA.,\u00a0 Agust\u00ed, S., Fraile-Nuez, E.,\u00a0 Duarte, CM., Irigoien, X. and Chust, G. <em>Large-scale ocean connectivity and planktonic body size<\/em>.\u00a0Nature Communications.\u00a0<strong>9<\/strong>:142. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467017-02535-8\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467017-02535-8<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"1","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":[],"_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"tax-big-challenge":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - 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