School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.
The Key Laboratory of Space Ocean Remote Sensing and Application, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100081, China.
Sci Adv. 2024 Nov 8;10(45):eadm7556. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adm7556. Epub 2024 Nov 6.
Effects of marine environment and climate changes on phytoplankton dynamics in global oceans have received increasing attention but remain a mystery. This study used a comprehensive approach combining correlation and information flow to explore relationships among phytoplankton biomass, marine environment, and climate forcing based on global observations over the past multi-decadal period. Correlation and causality between phytoplankton biomass and environmental factors exhibit spatial asymmetry-regions where environmental factors directly drive biomass variations were concentrated in oceanic currents and subtropical circulations. Temperature, light, and mixed layer depth show pronounced influences on global phytoplankton interdecadal variations. Climate forcing over interdecadal timescales directly affects phytoplankton biomass in the equatorial Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Oceans, with more uncertain biomass variability in the equatorial Pacific due to multiple climate events. Our findings revealed that environment and climate changes directly affect phytoplankton interdecadal variability only in specific regions at the oceanic scale.
海洋环境和气候变化对全球海洋浮游植物动态的影响受到越来越多的关注，但仍然是一个谜。本研究采用关联和信息流综合分析的方法，基于过去几十年的全球观测数据，探讨了浮游植物生物量、海洋环境和气候强迫之间的关系。浮游植物生物量与环境因素之间的相关性和因果关系存在空间不对称性——直接驱动生物量变化的环境因素集中在海流和亚热带环流中。温度、光照和混合层深度对全球浮游植物的年代际变化有显著影响。在年代际时间尺度上，气候强迫直接影响赤道太平洋、南太平洋和印度洋的浮游植物生物量，由于多种气候事件的影响，赤道太平洋的浮游植物生物量变化更加不确定。本研究结果表明，环境和气候变化仅在海洋尺度的特定区域直接影响浮游植物的年代际变化。
