Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton
Published on: July 28, 2023
Climate and change in oceanic ecosystems: The value of time-series data
1John McGowan is at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Abstract:
The consequences of climatic change for the structure and function of oceanic ecosystems are of considerable current interest. A predictive, mechanistic model of these consequences based on our scanty knowledge of the dynamics of the systems' components seems unlikely: a complex set of simultaneous partial differential equations depicting population interactions and transfer rates of energy and materials would be necessary. A second approach is simply to measure the phenomenology of variations in both climate and ecosystem components, for the purpose of detecting shared patterns. Two studies of the latter type have been done. Both have been successful in revealing relationships between climatic variation and large-scale, large-amplitude, low-frequency biological variability. Both sets of results can provide models for the prediction of consequences, and both can serve as baselines for the definition of 'change'.
Related Concept Videos
Global Climate Change
Microbes and Climate Change
Time-Series Graph
Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
What is Climate?
Marine Microbial Ecology
