We used dynamic factor analysis to study if there are common patterns of interannual
variation that are shared (“common trends”) among summer phytoplankton total and class-level biomass time series observed across Baltic Sea latitudinal gradients in salinity and temperature. We evaluated alternative hypotheses regarding common trends among summer phytoplankton biomass: Baltic Sea-wide common trends; common trends by geography (latitude and basin); common trends differing among functional groups (phytoplankton classes); or common trends driven by both geography and functional group.
Our results indicated little support for a common trend in total summer phytoplankton biomass. At a finer resolution, classes had common trends that were most closely associated with the cryptophyte and cyanobacteria time series with patterns that differed between northern and southern sampling stations. These common trends were also very sensitive to two anomalous years (1990, 2008) of cryptophyte biomass. The Baltic Sea Index, a regional climate index, was correlated with two common class trends that shifted in mean state around the mid-1990s. The limited coherence in phytoplankton biomass variation over time despite known, large-scale, ecosystem shifts suggests that stochastic dynamics at local scales limits the ability to observe common trends at the scale of monitoring data collection.
Griffiths JR, Lehtinen S, Suikkanen S, Winder M (2020) Limited evidence for common interannual trends in Baltic Sea summer phytoplankton biomass. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0231690. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231690
Winder Lab 