The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) and its application to the study of the spatial and temporal changes in biodiversity in the North Atlantic and the North Sea

This communication aims to describe one of major long-term programmes of plankton sampling: the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey and to show its importance in the study of the spatial and temporal patterns of pelagic biodiversity. For several years, human activities have become a significant force affecting the functioning of the Earth System. It is extremely important to be able to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic variations in plankton abundance mainly in coastal ecosystem. In this goal, the CPR survey represents a precious tool to understand factors that control the changes in the pelagic biodiversity in the North Atlantic and the North Sea. In order to give an example of the power of this programme in the study of pelagic biodiversity, maps are presented showing seasonal changes in the total number of taxa identified per CPR sample.