• Energy Research

Phytoplankton plays an important role in ocean processes, and is well-known to have an enormous positive impact on climate change or more specifically on global warming, by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels through the sinking of produced organic and inorganic matter to the deep ocean (Falkowski, 2012; Beardall and Raven, 2013). However, climate change, with consequences of elevated seawater temperatures and decreased pH levels (Beardall and Raven, 2013), influences phytoplankton dynamics, changing phytoplankton composition, geography and biomass in the oceans (Falkowski and Oliver, 2007; Boyd et al., 2015; Jonkers et al., 2019). Temperature increases could also drive temporal shifts in the onset of the regular annual blooms, their composition, duration and amplitude as well as mismatches in timing between trophic levels (Hinder et al., 2012; Mikaelyan et al., 2015). The overall impact of increased temperature on phytoplankton is not easy to assess due to variable and complex repercussions. For example, increasing temperatures can lead to more stratified waters, especially in summer months, and prevent nutrient replenishment at the ocean surface. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This volume contains the main results of the EC FP7 “The Ocean of Tomorrow” Project CoCoNet, divided in two sections: 1) a set of guidelines to design networks of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas; 2) a smart wind chart that will allow evaluating the possibility of installing Offshore Wind Farms in both seas. The concept of Cells of Ecosystem Functioning, based on connectivity, is introduced to define natural units of management and conservation. The definition of Good Environmental Status, as defined in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is fully embraced to set the objectives of the project, by adopting a holistic approach that integrates a full set of disciplines, ranging from physics to bio-ecology, economics, engineering and many sub-disciplines. The CoCoNet Consortium involved scientist sfrom 22 states, based in Africa, Asia, and Europe, contributing to build a coherent scientific community.

Riverine systems act as converging pathways for discarded litter within drainage basins, becoming key elements in gauging the transfer of mismanaged waste into the ocean. However, riverine litter data are scarce and biased towards microplastics, generally lacking information about larger items. Based on the first ever database of riverine floating macrolitter across Europe, we have estimated that between 307 and 925 million litter items are released annually from Europe into the ocean. The plastic fraction represented 82% of the observed litter, mainly fragments and single-use items (that is, bottles, packaging and bags). Our modelled estimates show that a major portion of the total litter loading is routed through small-sized drainage basins (<100 km2), indicating the relevance of small rivers, streams and coastal run-off. Moreover, the major contribution of high-income countries to the macrolitter inputs suggests that reducing ocean pollution cannot be achieved only by improving waste management, but also requires changing consumption habits and behaviour to curb waste generation at source. The inability of countries with well-developed recovery systems to control the leakage of waste into the environment further supports the need to regulate the production and use of plastic on a global scale. We acknowledge the additional members (coordinators and observers) of RiLON, listed in Supplementary Data 5, for their support in the field data collection and feedback during the data quality control. D.G.-F. was supported by the JRC institutional exploratory project RIMMEL (272346), PLASTREND (BBVA Foundation) and the European Union (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018 846843 - LitRivus). J.V. and C.M.-C. were supported by the MIDaS project (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, CTM2016-77106-R, AEI/FEDER/UE). Peer reviewed