Time series of phytoplankton abundance and composition at station L4 in the English Channel from 1988 to 2009@en

1. Weekly phytoplankton samples are collected from station L4 (50°15.00'N 4°13.02'W) in the western English Channel http://www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/l4/Phytoplankton from a depth of 10 m using a 10 L water bottle. A 200 mL sample is immediately preserved in 2% (final concentration) acid Lugol's iodine and a second 200 mL sample is fixed with 4% neutral formaldehyde for the enumeration of coccolithophores. Samples are stored in cool and dark conditions until analysis in the laboratory by settlement microscopy (Utermöhl, 1958). Between 50 mL and 100 mL subsamples are settled for >48 hours and all cells >2 µm are enumerated and identified where possible to species level and categorised into functional groups. Individual species are checked against the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) www.marinespecies.org […]