2016 SoE Marine Chapter - State and Trends - Water column, slope (250 m - 700 m)

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "The state and trends of habitats and communities - water column, slope (250 m -700 m)". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record.----------------------------------------DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT/COMMUNITY FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENTThe major determinants of pelagic habitat can be considered to be temperature (T), salinity (S), light, nutrients, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and food availability. The slope waters around Australia are generally warm, saline, well illuminated, low in nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish. The primary pressures affecting the pelagic biota in slope waters are related to climatic cycles (e.g. ENSO) and long term climate change impacting on T, S, DO, pH and fishing. The slope waters are particularly sensitive to changes in our boundary currents, the EAC and the Leeuwin which generally flow south, seaward of the shelf break. The pelagic productivity of the slope waters provides most of the food to animals in these waters and on the bottom. The shelf edge canyons can enhance upwelling or ‘capture’ eddies that act to focus phytoplankton into these features. Data collection is sparse but IMOS continuous plankton recorder (CPR) routes around Australia sample largely from this region. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENTData are computed from the level 3 (L3) daily global products using one merging method following Maritorena and Siegel, (2005). Details can be found at http://www.globcolour.info/products_description.html----------------------------------------2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details]• 2016 •Assessment grade: GoodAssessment trend: UnclearConfidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensusConfidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensusComparability: Grade and trend are comparable to the 2011 assessment• 2011 •Assessment grade: GoodAssessment trend: StableConfidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensusConfidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus----------------------------------------CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENTThis assessment uses observations from a greater range of spatial and temporal scales allowing a much better assessment of current state and trends to be made. There is also a statistical analysis of temporal change in zooplankton biomass.

2016年《环境状况报告》（State of the Environment，简称SoE）海洋章节纳入了多个基于海洋数据流构建的专家模板。本元数据记录对应专家评估报告《生境与群落的状况及趋势——水柱、250米至700米斜坡海域》。本记录附件包含完整的专家评估报告，其中含配图与附表（如已提供）。若可获取，本专家评估报告所使用的数据流可通过本记录的「在线资源」板块查阅。

——专家评估生境与群落描述——
远洋生境的主要决定因素可归纳为温度（T）、盐度（S）、光照、营养盐、溶解氧（DO）、pH值以及食物可获得性。澳大利亚周边的斜坡海域通常水温偏高、盐度较高、光照充足，但营养盐、浮游植物、浮游动物及鱼类资源相对匮乏。影响斜坡海域远洋生物群落的主要压力因素与气候周期（如厄尔尼诺-南方涛动，El Niño-Southern Oscillation，简称ENSO）及长期气候变化相关，后者会对水温、盐度、溶解氧、pH值及渔业活动产生影响。斜坡海域对沿岸边界流的变化尤为敏感，这类边界流包括通常沿陆架坡折带向南方外海流动的东澳洋流（East Australian Current，简称EAC）与勒文洋流（Leeuwin Current）。斜坡海域的远洋生产力为该海域及海底的各类生物提供了主要食物来源。陆架边缘峡谷可增强上升流，或「捕获」涡流，从而将浮游植物聚集至该类海域。该区域的数据采集工作较为匮乏，但澳大利亚整合海洋观测系统（Integrated Marine Observing System，简称IMOS）的连续浮游生物记录仪（Continuous Plankton Recorder，简称CPR）航线在澳大利亚周边的采样范围大多覆盖此区域。

——专家评估所用数据流——
本数据集基于Maritorena与Siegel于2005年提出的融合方法，从全球三级（Level 3，简称L3）逐日产品中计算生成。详细信息可查阅网址：http://www.globcolour.info/products_description.html

——2016年SoE评估总结【完整细节请参阅附件中的专家评估报告】——
• 2016年
评估等级：良好
评估趋势：尚不明确
置信等级：证据有限或共识不足
置信趋势：证据有限或共识不足
可比性：本次评估的等级与趋势可与2011年评估结果进行对比
• 2011年
评估等级：良好
评估趋势：稳定
置信等级：证据有限或共识不足
置信趋势：证据有限或共识不足

——2011年SoE评估以来的变更——
本次评估采用了覆盖更广时空尺度的观测数据，得以对当前状况与趋势开展更为精准的评估。此外，本次评估还对浮游动物生物量的时间变化进行了统计分析。