The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey is the most geographically extensive marine monitoring programme in the world. Started in 1931. Today the Survey is operated by the Marine Biological Association, based in Plymouth, UK.
Marine biological datasets provide a wide range of environmental and climatic indicators to address marine environmental management issues such as Harmful Algal Blooms, pollution, climate change and fisheries
At the base of the marine foodweb, the free floating plant life of the sea (phytoplankton) provide food for the animal plankton (zooplankton) which in turn provide food for many other marine organisms
Find Out MorePolicy drivers continue to influence research at the CPR Survey and an important aim of the organisation is to use CPR data and the expertise of Survey scientists to deliver evidence-based advice to policy makers and ecosystem managers
Find Out MoreThe CPR Survey is unique in having comparable data on the geographical distribution, seasonal cycles and year-to-year changes in abundance of plankton over a large spatial area
Find Out MoreAdvances in technology have enabled the long-awaited transformation of the existing CPR sampler into a modern autonomous platform, revolutionising monitoring capabilities while retaining consistency with the historical data gathered over almost 7 decades. In 2020, the iC...
Researchers from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey based at the MBA have led a study to assess the long-term changes in dinoflagellate biomass and biodiversity to see if there is a link to large scale climate patterns and oceanic circulation in the North Atlantic....
Tiny plankton – measuring less than 20µm (or 0.02mm) in diameter – make up the majority of plankton in the ocean and play a critical role in the planet’s health, according to new research. However, scientists say challenges in identifying them have led to them becoming a s...