OSPAR Science Agenda Knowledge Gap Portal

Knowledge gap description: Additional datasets particularly for the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast should be included. This will allow the computation of the indicator within variable salinity habitats and improve the spatial and temporal confidence of the FW2 indicator for the variable salinity, coastal, shelf and oceanic habitats. Carry out links to PH1/FW5 to capture shifts between pairs of lifeforms resulting from changes in primary production.

Knowledge gap description: Refine the use of remote sensing data within estuaries, plumes and coastal habitats. Examine satellite data at finer spatial scale and improve assessment from remote sensing for turbid and eutrophic water bodies, in particular in variable salinity and coastal habitats of the Greater North Sea (OSPAR Region II)._x000D_

Knowledge gap description: An index for spatial and temporal confidence of the results should be proposed.

Knowledge gap description: The links between FW2 and pressures should be refined to identify the origin of the pressures. Future work should make the distinction between natural versus human induced pressure as well as the origin of natural pressures. Also, introduction of a lag into the variable selection is needed to test for delayed effects of environmental pressures on primary production.

Knowledge gap description: Most indicators have no agreed threshold value so status assessment is based on expert judgement.

Knowledge gap description: Some indicators were not assessed in some regions because of a lack of data.

Knowledge gap description: The candidate indicator, size composition and spatial distribution of zooplankton (FW6), was not assessed because of lack of data.

Knowledge gap description: Because of data availability, the Feeding Guilds (FW7) candidate indicator includes only pelagic and demersal fish and elasmobranchs but will include data on higher and lower trophic levels in the future.

Knowledge gap description: It has not yet been possible to provide an integrated assessment of the state of the ecosystems in the five OSPAR Regions.

Knowledge gap description: Results from the 38 assessments conducted over four Regions show that need for additional data collection and research to support the mitigation of food web effects arising from the impacts of human activities.

Knowledge gap description: Arctic Waters (Region 1): There are major uncertainties linked to the short time series available for most of the biological groups.

Knowledge gap description: Greater North Sea (Region II) - Variable salinity ecosystems / Plankton community assessment: Plankton monitoring datasets were available for a limited number of assessment units, with significant gaps in time series. Lower confidence must therefore be assigned to these results, particularly for the zooplankton lifeform time-series.

Knowledge gap description: Greater North Sea (Region II) - Coastal ecosystems / Plankton community assessment: Data used to assess trends exhibited a high degree of confidence and the majority of assessment units were well represented, except for the gelatinous zooplankton lifeform. However, a high degree of variability resulted from linking trends in lifeform abundance with environmental pressures, and thus the associations with change in sea surface temperature and salinity lacked confidence.

Knowledge gap description: Greater North Sea (Region II) - Oceanic / beyond shelf ecosystem was not assessed for Greater North Sea since the ecosystem shares far greater overlap with the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV).

Knowledge gap description: Greater North Sea (Region II) - Different trends were observed in Ecological Network Analysis-related indices, resulting in unknown status for the trophic network.

Knowledge gap description: Celtic Seas (OSPAR Region III): only the lower trophic levels of the pelagic food web were assessed.

Knowledge gap description: Celtic Seas (OSPAR Region III): Variable salinity ecosystem /Plankton community assessment. For the Common Indicator Assessment on Changes in Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Communities (PH1 / FW5), there was very low representation of assessment units for all zooplankton lifeforms. There are also gaps in existing relevant literature: scarce literature on primary production trends in the area and no investigation of the link between ocean acidification and primary production over long-term timescales. It is unclear if the decrease in primary production in the variable salinity and coastal habitats assessed here is due to decreasing pH or if it is the cause of decreasing pH. Further investigations is needed to understand links between phytoplankton activity (production and respiration) and long-term concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon and anthropogenic carbon dioxide.

Knowledge gap description: Celtic Seas (OSPAR Region III): Coastal ecosystems / Plankton community assessment. Common Indicator Assessment on Changes in Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Communities (PH1 / FW5): No data were available for the gelatinous zooplankton lifeform. As in variable salinity habitats, it is unclear whether the decrease in primary production detected was the consequence of ocean acidification.

Knowledge gap description: Celtic Seas (OSPAR Region III): Shelf ecosystems / Plankton community assessment. Common Indicator Assessment on Changes in Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Communities (PH1 / FW5): No data were available for the gelatinous zooplankton lifeform.

Knowledge gap description: Celtic Seas (OSPAR Region III) - Oceanic / beyond shelf ecosystem was not assessed for Celtic Seas since the ecosystem shares far greater overlap with the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV).

Knowledge gap description: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV): The status of fish-related indicators was unknown for all habitat types assessed.

Knowledge gap description: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV): Variable salinity habitat / Plankton community assessment - There were no suitable plankton monitoring data available to evaluate the pelagic habitat indicators. For the Candidate Indicator Pilot Assessment of Primary Productivity (FW2), the assessment was also not possible because of lack of data.

Knowledge gap description: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV): Coastal ecosystems / Plankton community assessments - For coastal habitats, only phytoplankton data were available to inform Common Indicator Assessment on Changes in Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Communities (PH1/FW5). For the Candidate Indicator Pilot Assessment of Primary Productivity (FW2), assessment was also not possible because of lack of data.

Knowledge gap description: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV): Changes in average trophic level of marine predators assessment - The contrasting trends observed in coastal areas indicate an uncertain status for Mean Trophic Level (MTL), Changes in Average Trophic Level of Marine Consumers (FW4), in this ecosystem.

Knowledge gap description: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (OSPAR Region IV): Shelf ecosystems / Demersal fish community assessment - There was no clear pattern of change in fish community indicators of size-structure and of species composition in the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast. This result has unclear implications.