Comments on: Vanishing Marine Algae Can Be Monitored From a Boat With Your Smartphone http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/03/vanishing-marine-algae-can-be-monitored-from-a-boat-with-your-smartphone/ Ideas, innovations and discoveries from the world of science Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:22:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: sardet http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/03/vanishing-marine-algae-can-be-monitored-from-a-boat-with-your-smartphone/comment-page-1/#comment-11603 sardet Sun, 02 Jun 2013 17:34:32 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=16549#comment-11603 great idea Richard participatory science at work Christian great idea Richard
participatory science at work

Christian

]]> By: Claire Martin http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/03/vanishing-marine-algae-can-be-monitored-from-a-boat-with-your-smartphone/comment-page-1/#comment-10112 Claire Martin Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:26:03 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=16549#comment-10112 Thank you for pointing this out! I've added a sentence to give readers the broader story, but the main issue stays the same. "We don't know what's happening without further study," the lead scientists of the Secchi-app study, Richard Kirby, mentioned to me when I brought up your points. "What we do need is data. While we have satellite data, in-situ data is also invaluable and hence trying to engage sailors in generating a large database that may in a few years provide a better understanding of how the phytoplankton are changing." Thank you for pointing this out! I’ve added a sentence to give readers the broader story, but the main issue stays the same. “We don’t know what’s happening without further study,” the lead scientists of the Secchi-app study, Richard Kirby, mentioned to me when I brought up your points. “What we do need is data. While we have satellite data, in-situ data is also invaluable and hence trying to engage sailors in generating a large database that may in a few years provide a better understanding of how the phytoplankton are changing.”

]]> By: Peter http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/03/vanishing-marine-algae-can-be-monitored-from-a-boat-with-your-smartphone/comment-page-1/#comment-10031 Peter Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:58:46 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=16549#comment-10031 The study you quote from: "the amount of phytoplankton worldwide dips by roughly 1 percent each year, according to a 2010 study published in the journal Nature" ....."phytoplankton concentrations have decreased by a total of 40 percent since 1950" has been discredited "much, if not all, of the century-long decline reported by Boyce et al.1 is attributable to this temporal sampling bias and not to a global decrease in phytoplankton biomass" See caution note here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7342/full/nature09952.html As well as this note here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7342/full/nature09950.html Eight decades of data on phytoplankton biomass collected in the North Atlantic by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey2, however, show an increase in an index of chlorophyll (Phytoplankton Colour Index) in both the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic basins3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Fig. 1), and other long-term time series, including the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT)8, the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS)8 and the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI)9 also indicate increased phytoplankton biomass over the last 20–50 years. These findings, which were not discussed by Boyce et al.1, are not in accordance with their conclusions and illustrate the importance of using consistent observations when estimating long-term trends. Please correct your article. The study you quote from:

“the amount of phytoplankton worldwide dips by roughly 1 percent each year, according to a 2010 study published in the journal Nature” …..”phytoplankton concentrations have decreased by a total of 40 percent since 1950″

has been discredited

“much, if not all, of the century-long decline reported by Boyce et al.1 is attributable to this temporal sampling bias and not to a global decrease in phytoplankton biomass”

See caution note here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7342/full/nature09952.html

As well as this note here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7342/full/nature09950.html

Eight decades of data on phytoplankton biomass collected in the North Atlantic by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey2, however, show an increase in an index of chlorophyll (Phytoplankton Colour Index) in both the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic basins3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Fig. 1), and other long-term time series, including the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT)8, the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS)8 and the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI)9 also indicate increased phytoplankton biomass over the last 20–50 years. These findings, which were not discussed by Boyce et al.1, are not in accordance with their conclusions and illustrate the importance of using consistent observations when estimating long-term trends.

Please correct your article.

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