Importance of integrating mixoplankton into marine ecosystem policy and management—Examples from the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Anschütz, Anna-Adriana, Maselli, Maira, Traboni, Claudia, Boon, Arjen R. and Stolte, Willem 2024. Importance of integrating mixoplankton into marine ecosystem policy and management—Examples from the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 20 (5) , pp. 1366-1383. 10.1002/ieam.4914

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Marine plankton capable of photosynthesis and predation (“mixoplankton”) comprise up to 50% of protist plankton and include many harmful species. However, marine environmental management policies, including the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the USEPA, assume a strict dichotomy between autotrophic phytoplankton and heterotrophic zooplankton. Mixoplankton often differ significantly from these two categories in their response to environmental pressures and affect the marine environment in ways we are only beginning to understand. While the management policies may conceptually provide scope for incorporating mixoplankton, such action is rarely implemented. We suggest that the effectiveness of monitoring and management programs could benefit from explicit implementations regarding the ecological roles and impact of mixoplankton. Taking the MSFD as an example of marine management guidelines, we propose appropriate methods to explicitly include mixoplankton in monitoring and marine management. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;00:1–18. © 2024 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1551-3777
Funders:	Horizon 2020, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 April 2024
Date of Acceptance:	1 March 2024
Last Modified:	21 Aug 2024 09:57
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167644

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item