Marine Phytoplankton and Global Climate Regulation: The Phaeocystis spp. Cluster as a Model

Establish a Web site to facilitate coordination of ongoing research worldwide, to create cohesion of efforts.

Make an inventory of aspects that relate to cycling of biogeochemically relevant elements. These aspects are

• Factors regulating bloom inception
• The grazing issue: bottom-up or top-down control
• Cellular response to environmental factors
• Distribution patterns: molecular-biological approaches
• Genetics: pathways of distribution and biodiversity in the cluster
• Emission of climate-relevant biogenic gases, and relevance for climate regulation
• Cloud inception and characterisation of condensation nuclei over blooms
• Sensitivity of climate models for presence of plankton, in casu the Phaeocystis cluster

Meet once a year to discuss progress, and divide tasks to arrive at a series of chapters produced under the responsibility of members of the Working Group.

In the last year, write a series of reviews covering the subjects mentioned under Term of Reference #2, which will be the chapters of a book that will be produced as the product of the Working Group. At least two Working Group members will be responsible for each chapter.

3-7 March 2002 in Norwich, UK

1-4 May 2003 in Savannah, Georgia, USA

30 August-3 September 2005 in Haren, the Netherlands