The ICES Symposium on "The Temporal Variability of Plankton and Their Physico-Chemical Environment" held in Kiel, Germany, from 19 to 21 March 1997, was attended by about 120 scientists from 19 countries. All together, 42 oral presentations were made and 22 posters displayed. Registered participants attended from the following countries:
Argentina (1), Belgium (1), Denmark (5), Estonia (1), Finland (4), France (2), Germany (35), Greece (1), Iceland (3), Italy (3), Latvia (2), The Netherlands (5), Norway (8), Russia (1), South Africa (1), Spain (5), Sweden (6), the United Kingdom (7), and the USA (7).
The Co-Conveners, Professor Ted Smayda and I, were very ably supported by the Scientific Steering Committee, comprising Professor J. Lenz, Dr E.-L. Poutanen, Dr P. C. Reid, Dr H. R. Skjoldal, Professor U. Sommer, and Professor B. Zeitzschel.
Co-Convener Professor Franciscus Colijn (in a wheelchair after rupturing an
Achilles tendon), addresses participants at the Opening Session.
A collection of abstracts of the papers delivered is available on request from either of the Co-Conveners.
The great success of the Symposium was evident at several levels, both scientific and social. At the scientific level, it was clearly shown that variability is an inherent characteristic of planktonic systems (both phytoplankton and zooplankton) and of the physical-chemical properties of their habitats. That is to say, variability is just as characteristic a feature of the phytoplankton as is their requirement for nutrients and irradiance for photosynthesis. As such, variability should be measured on a routine basis. An even more pronounced result of the Symposium was the confirmation that long-term variability and climatic change such as the North Atlantic Oscillation are closely related. These major scientific results of the Symposium supersede the long-held notion that variability is primarily a feature of fish stocks, while that at the planktonic level is relatively trivial and not particularly relevant to fisheries. It also indicates that the justification for plankton time-series analyses is not simply a practical one, e.g., to help understand fisheries stock variability, but should be incorporated into the basic methodological and conceptual approaches of biological oceanography.
The Symposium revealed that there is now a critical mass of long-term time-series data sets, as well as researchers interested in variability, trends, cycles, and changes in planktonic systems. The presentation of results at the Symposium provided much-needed collation, synthesis, and identification of time-series results. It is hoped that the proceedings will be a benchmark, stimulating the integration of such results into contemporary biological oceanography issues. They should also stimulate similar research and the continuation of ongoing time series. After peer review the proceedings will be published in a special issue in the series ICES Journal of Marine Science, produced by Academic Press.
Symposium participants, in sharing experiences with regard to being able to maintain their time series, identified common problems endangering their continuation: in particular, the ending of funding and the failure to replace the responsible staff. There is the associated problem stemming from the fact that long-term time-series data are filed away in the desks of senior scientists preparing for retirement and thus at risk of being discarded or lost. Hence there is the need to identify, preserve, and continue long-term time series. This paradoxical situation occurs at precisely the time when such observations are essential to resolving global-change issues and distinguishing between anthropogenic effects and those attributable to natural variance. Another important issue in which long-term biological observations play a key role concerns the steadily increasing human impact on biodiversity in the marine environment.
Finally, the Symposium was extremely valuable in allowing participants to establish communication and collaborative networks. Arrangements were made among various scientists to prepare joint publications, to exchange data, and to teach each other new techniques of data and trend analysis.
From the social point of view the Symposium was also successful owing to the good atmosphere and the fine trip on board the RV "Alkor" with the Symposium buffet.
The Symposium was so successful that the Working Group on Phytoplankton Ecology will recommend that another symposium be convened in five years (2002) to revisit this issue and variability in planktonic systems. It will also propose the establishment of a Study Group to deal with long-term variability.
Apart from this general picture of the Symposium, highlights from the papers delivered will be presented in a summarized form during the Annual Science Conference in Baltimore. These highlights, together with the recommendations agreed, will be distributed to the international organizations concerned with monitoring issues, some of which, such as the Oslo and Paris Commissions and the Helsinki Commission, co-sponsored the Symposium along with Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel. One of the recommendations will concern the setting-up of a network of long-term observations in the marine area.
Professor Chris Hopkins, ICES General Secretary, delivers a welcoming address. To the right is Professor Berndt Zeitzschel, Institut für Meereskunde, who was instrumental in mobilizing substantial resources to support the Symposium.