Ecological performance differs between range centre and trailing edge populations of a cold-water kelp:implications for estimating net primary productivity

Kelp forests are extensive, widely distributed and highly productive. However, despite their importance, reliable estimates of net primary productivity (NPP) are currently unknown for most species and regions. In particular, how performance and subsequent NPP change throughout a species range is lacking. Here, we attempted to resolve this by examining growth and performance of the boreal kelp, Laminaria digitata, from range centre and trailing edge regions in the United Kingdom. During the peak growth season (March/April), range-centre individuals were up to three times heavier and accumulated biomass twice as fast as their trailing-edge counterparts. This was not apparent during the reduced growth season (August/September), when populations within both regions had similar biomass profiles. In total, annual NPP estimates were considerably lower for trailing-edge (181±34 g C m−2 year−1) compared to range-centre (344±33 g C m−2 year−1) populations. Our first-order UK estimates of total standing stock and NPP for L. digitata suggest this species makes a significant contribution to coastal carbon cycling. Further work determining the ultimate fate of this organic matter is needed to understand the overall contribution of kelp populations to regional and global carbon cycles. Nevertheless, we highlight the need for large-scale sampling across multiple populations and latitudes to accurately evaluate kelp species’ contributions to coastal carbon cycling

Risk management to prioritise the eradication of new and emerging invasive non-native species

Robust tools are needed to prioritise the management of invasive non-native species (INNS). Risk assessment is commonly used to prioritise INNS, but fails to take into account the feasibility of management. Risk management provides a structured evaluation of management options, but has received little attention to date. We present a risk management scheme to assess the feasibility of eradicating INNS that can be used, in conjunction with existing risk assessment schemes, to support prioritisation. The Non-Native Risk Management scheme (NNRM) can be applied to any predefined area and any taxa. It uses semi-quantitative response and confidence scores to assess seven key criteria: Effectiveness, Practicality, Cost, Impact, Acceptability, Window of opportunity and Likelihood of re-invasion. Scores are elicited using expert judgement, supported by available evidence, and consensus-building methods. We applied the NNRM to forty-one INNS that threaten Great Britain (GB). Thirty-three experts provided scores, with overall feasibility of eradication assessed as ‘very high’ (8 species), ‘high’ (6), ‘medium’ (8), ‘low’ (10) and ‘very low’ (9). The feasibility of eradicating terrestrial species was higher than aquatic species. Lotic freshwater and marine species scored particularly low. Combining risk management and existing risk assessment scores identified six established species as priorities for eradication. A further six species that are not yet established were identified as priorities for eradication on arrival as part of contingency planning. The NNRM is one of the first INNS risk management schemes that can be used with existing risk assessments to prioritise INNS eradication in any area

Building multisite science services for the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory (EMSO) Research Infrastructure

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, 9-13 December 2019, San FranciscoEMSO is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) with 8 member countries. It is coordinated by a central management office and promotes monitoring services offered by 11 fixed-point deep-sea and water column observatories around Europe, from the Atlantic, through the Mediterranean, and to the anoxic Black Sea. EMSO aims are to advance marine science and technologies in the frame of sustainable development policies concerning ocean health, biodiversity, climate, and environmental changes. EMSO provides Science Services, in the form of data and/or access to the regional distributed observatory locations for experiments or testing of new equipment. EMSO ERIC is in its second year of operation, and its challenge is to turn the diversity of technical approaches and science priorities of each regional distributed observatory locations into a strength for building robust network-scale best practices, labels, and science services. This presentation reports on collaborative work initiated in recent months by EMSO, primarily within the Science Service Group, focusing on 3 practical goals: 1) offer online access, Quality Control (QC) and adequate data management tools for deep-water salinity and temperature data from five EMSO sites; 2) develop and promote a standard sampling and analytical procedure for microplastic pollution assessments to be performed at each EMSO site during maintenance cruises; and 3) explore the needs of the growing group of users of marine acoustics data (e.g. geohazards, marine mammals, sound pollution, marine transport) and design online access, QC and suitable scan-visualisation tools for acoustic data records. Our goal is, through and beyond EMSO Science Services, to help build smart ocean observation systems that meet the growing knowledge needs on natural and anthropogenic processes in the oce