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SO-CPR (plankton recorder)

The Southern Ocean Continuous Plankton Recorder Database was initially established to assist the development and expansion of the CPR research in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters, but now focuses on the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) of the data and maintaining the highest methodological standards in CPR sampling and taxonomic methodology across the SO-CPR Survey laboratories.

About

The SCAR Southern Ocean Continuous Plankton Recorder (SO-CPR) Survey was established in 1991 by the Australian Antarctic Division to map the spatial-temporal patterns of plankton biodiversity and use the sensitivity of plankton to environmental change as early warning indicators of the health of the Southern Ocean. It also contributes to or can serve as a reference for other observational/monitoring programmes such as the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), Southern Ocean Sentinel (SOS), CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (C-EMP), and the Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics (ICED) program.

Antarctic plankton are expected to be particularly sensitive and vulnerable to climate change, both because of changes in ocean temperatures and by changing sea ice patterns. Increased UV levels, ocean acidification, invasive plankton species, pollution and harvesting impacts are also potential major threats. The synergistic effect of these threats working in combination is currently not known. Any change in the plankton are expected to have cascading effects through the rest of the food chain, as well as potentially altering the role of the plankton in the global climate system.

The SCAR Continuous Plankton Recorder Expert Group (EG-CPR) was established to assist the development and expansion of the CPR research in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters.

The original terms of reference for the Continuous Plankton Recorder Expert Group (EG-CPR) were:

Map the biodiversity and distribution of plankton, including euphausiid (krill) life stages, in the Southern Ocean.
Use the sensitivity of plankton to environmental change as early warning indicators of the health of Southern Ocean, by studying spatial-temporal variation in plankton patterns.
Serve as reference on the general status of the Southern Ocean for other monitoring programs.
Develop and maintain the SO-CPR Database and to improve access for users.
Expand and enhance the SO-CPR Survey to include more ships and repeat transects around Antarctica.

The EG-CPR has proved invaluable in helping the Southern Ocean CPR Survey becoming a high successful biological survey and monitoring programme with a near circum-Antarctic coverage. In turn it has become an important source of data and information for other SCAR initiatives such as SCAR-MarBIN, the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) and the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). In turn, SO-CPR and EG-CPR were important foundation members of the Global Alliance of CPR Surveys (GACS) which places the Antarctic CPR data in a global context. During the term of the EG-CPR and its predecessor Action Group some 40 papers have been published in relation to ToR 1, 2 and 3, including the SCAR Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. That work still continues, but in recent years the main focus of EG-CPR has been on ToR 4 and 5, particularly in improving access/use of the CPR data, an important SCAR Business Product, and ensuring quality assurance and quality control of that data through training and standardisation workshop. That work needs to continue for the foreseeable future to ensure we are collecting and distributing the best quality plankton data.

The principal product of the SO-CPR survey is the production of a high quality dataset for purposes of mapping plankton biodiversity: monitoring and development of models at seasonal, inter-annual, decadal, and spatially local and global scales; and providing core plankton data for ecosystem models. As of February 2012, data from approximately 30,000 samples at 5 nautical mile resolution for ~230 zooplankton species and krill developmental stages are in the database. A new zooplankton atlas for the Southern Ocean has just been published for the region using CPR data. New modelling methods are now allowing us to predict patterns of individual species or whole assemblages by modelling the relationship between plankton and remotely measured environmental variables. The analyses will assist in the study of environmental effects on plankton, predator-prey relationships, the identification of foraging zones, and assist fisheries and conservation management.

At the 2016 SCAR Delegates Meeting in Kuala Lumpur it was approved to transition the existing EG-CPR to the Southern Ocean Continuous Plankton Recorder Database Expert Group (SO-CPR)

See the CPR website for further information.

Terms of Reference

Continue to develop and maintain the SO-CPR Database and to improve access for users.
To ensure Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) of the data through regular training and standardisation workshops.
Encourage other nations, especially developing Antarctic nations, to participate in the workshops and susequently improve spatial and temporal coverage of CPR tows around Antarctica.

News

View in all SO-CPR

News and Research Updates from the Continuous Plankton Recorder Community.

Members

Contact

The Chair of the SO-CPR group is Kunio Takahashi.

Matt McKellar-Spence is responsible for the SO-CPR database.

Members of CO-CPR

Kunio Takahashi (Chair)	National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR)	Japan
Graham Hosie (former Chair)		Australia
Hans Verheye	South African Department of Environmental Affairs	South Africa
Julie Hall	National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)	New Zealand
Philippe Koubbi	Université Pierre and Marie Curie	France
Marianne Wootton	Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS)	UK
John Kitchener	Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)	Australia
Ben Raymond	Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)	Australia
Karen Robinson	National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)	New Zealand
Erik Muxagata	University of Rio Grande	Brazil

Resources

Publications, Data and Links of interest to the Southern Ocean plankton community

Reports

Toggle	Title	Date
	pdf SO-CPR Expert Group Report 2022 ( pdf, 181 KB )	03 Jan 2023
	pdf SO-CPR Expert Group Report 2020 ( pdf, 88 KB )	15 Apr 2021
	pdf Status Report on Southern Ocean Zooplankton ( pdf, 3.11 MB )	27 Oct 2020
	pdf SCAR XXXV Paper 16: Life Sciences Group (LSG) Report ( pdf, 899 KB )	20 Sep 2018
	pdf SCAR EXCOM 2017 Paper 5: Report of Life Sciences Group AND Life Sciences Group Reports ( pdf, 1.18 MB )	02 Aug 2017
	pdf SCAR XXXIV WP07b: Life Sciences Action and Expert Group Reports ( pdf, 1.79 MB )	30 Aug 2016

Publications

SO-CPR publications from 2014-2016:

Constable, A.J., Melbourne-Thomas, J., Corney, S.P., Arrigo, K.R., Barbraud, C., Barnes, D.K.A., Bindoff, N.L., Boyd, P.W., Brandt, A., Costa, D.P., Davidson, A.T., Ducklow, H.W., Emmerson, L., Fukuchi, M., Gutt, J., Hindell, M.A., Hofmann, E.E., Hosie, G.W. , Iida, T., Jacob, S., Johnston, N.M., Kawaguchi, S. , Kokubun, N., Koubbi, P., Lea, M-A., Makhado, A., Massom, R.A., Meiners, K., Meredith, M.P, Murphy, E.J., Nicol, S. , Reid, K. , Richerson, K., Riddle, M.J., Rintoul, S.R., Smith Jr., W.O., Southwell, C. , Stark, J.S., Sumner, M., Swadling, K.M. , Takahashi, K.T., Trathan, P.N., Welsford, D.C., Weimerskirch, H., Westwood, K.J. , Wienecke, B.C., Wolf-Gladrow, D., Wright, S.W., Xavier, J.C., Ziegler, P. (2014) Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: How changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota. Global Change Biology, 20: 3004-3025, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12623

Cuzin-Roudy, J., Irisson, J-O., Penot, F., Kawaguchi, S., Vallet, C. (2014) Southern Ocean euphausiids. In: De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Raymond, B., Roper-Coudert, Y., Van de Putte, A., (eds) The CAML/SCAR-MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK, pp 309-320

De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Raymond, B., d’Udekem d’Acoz, C., Van de Putte, A., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Roper-Coudert, Y., (eds) (2014) The CAML/SCAR- MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK.

Edwards, M., Helaouet, P., Alhaija, R. A., Batten, S., Beaugrand, G., Chiba, S., Horaeb, R. R., Hosie, G., Mcquatters-Gollop, A., Ostle, C., Richardson, A.J., Rochester, W., Skinner, J., Stern, R., Takahashi, K., Taylor, C., Verheye, H. M., Wootton, M. (2016). Global Marine Ecological Status Report: results from the global CPR survey 2014/2015. SAHFOS Techinical Report, 11, 1-32. Plymouth, U.K. ISSN 1744-0750.

Edwards, M., Helaouet, P., Johns, D.G., Batten, S., Beaugrand, G., Chiba, S., Hall, J., M., Head, E., Hosie, G., Kitchener, J., Koubbi, P., Kreiner, A., Melrose, C., Pinkerton, M., Richardson, A.J., Robinson, K., Takahashi, K., Verheye. H.M., Ward, P. & Wootton, M. (2014) Global Marine Ecological Status Report: results from the global CPR survey 2012/2013. SAHFOS Technical Report, 10: 1-37. Plymouth, U.K. ISSN 1744-0750

Griffiths, H.J., Van de Putte, A., Danis, B. (2014) Data distribution: patterns and implications. In: De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Raymond, B., Roper-Coudert, Y., Van de Putte, A., (eds) The CAML/SCAR-MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK, pp 16-26

Gutt, J., Bertler, N., Bracegirdle, T.J., Buschmann, A., Comiso, J., Hosie, G., Isla, E., Schloss, I.R., Smith, C.R, Tournadre, J., Xavier, J.C. (2014) The Southern Ocean ecosystem under multiple climate change stresses – an integrated circumpolar assessment. Global Change Biology, 21 (4), 1434- 1453, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12794

Hosie, G., Mormède, S., Kitchener, J., Takahashi, K., Raymond, B (2014) Chapter 10.3. Near-surface zooplankton community. In: De Broyer C., Koubbi P., Griffiths H.J., Raymond B., Udekem d’Acoz C. d’, Van de Putte A.P., Danis B., David B., Grant S., Gutt J., Held C., Hosie G., Huettmann F., Post A., Ropert-Coudert Y. (eds.), Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, pp. 422-430.

Koubbi, P., De Broyer, C., Griffiths, H., Raymond, B., d’Udekem d’Acoz, C., Van de Putte, A., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huettmann, F., Post, A., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Stoddart, M.1, Swadling, K., Wadley, V. (2014) CONCLUSION: Present and Future of Southern Ocean Biogeography. In: De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Raymond, B., Roper-Coudert, Y., Van de Putte, A., (eds) The CAML/SCAR-MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK, pp 470-475

Kouwenberg, J.H.M., Razouls, C., Desreumaux, N., (2014) Southern Ocean pelagic copepods. In: De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Raymond, B., Roper-Coudert, Y., Van de Putte, A., (eds) The CAML/SCAR-MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK, pp 290-296

Meilland, J., Favri-Ruiz, S., Koubbi, P., Lo Monaco, C., Cotte, C., Hosie, G. W., Sanchez, S., Howa, H. (2016). Planktonic foraminiferal biogeography in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean: Contribution from CPR data. Deep- Sea Research I, 110, 75-89. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2015.12.014

Roberts, D., Hopcroft, R.R., Hosie, G.W. (2014) Southern Ocean Pteropods. In: De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Raymond, B., Roper-Coudert, Y., Van de Putte, A., (eds) The CAML/SCAR-MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK, pp 276-283

Robinson, K.V., Pinkerton, M.H., Hall, J.A., Hosie, G.W., (2014) Continuous Plankton Recorder Time Series. New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report No. 128. Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington. 74 pp. ISBN 978-0-478-43226-8

Takahashi, K. T., Hosie, G. W., Odate, T. (2016). Intra-annual seasonal variability of surface zooplankton distribution patterns along a 110oE transect of the Southern Ocean in the austral summer of 2011/12. Polar Science, doi:10.1016/j.polar.2016.06.09

Takahashi, K. T., Iida, T., Ojima, M., Odate, T. (2015). Zooplankton sampling during the 55th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in austral summer 2013-2014. JARE Data Report, 336 (Marine Biology 49), 15p.

Zeidler, W., De Broyer, C. (2014) Amphiphoda Hyperiidea. In: De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huetmann, F., Post, A., Raymond, B., Roper-Coudert, Y., Van de Putte, A., (eds) The CAML/SCAR-MarBIN Biogeographic Atlas of the
Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, UK, pp 303-308

Links

Data