This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (OIA-1655221, OCE-1655686) and Rhode Island Sea Grant (NA22-OAR4170123, RISG22-R/2223-95-5-U). We thank the multiple captains for providing field assistance and the many students and researchers who collected data since 1970. We thank Stewart Copeland and Georgia Rhodes for developing the Vis-A-Thon project that produced the plankton mural as well as Rafael Attias from the Rhode Island School of Design for his artistic guidance during project development.

1. Converting phytoplankton images into vector graphics
<ol>
	<li>Select phytoplankton microscopic images taken from the Narragansett Bay Long Term Plankton Time Series (NBPTS) as either .JPG, .PNG, or .PDF files (Figure 1A). 
	NOTE: Taxa include Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii, Thalassionema nitzschioides, Tripos spp., Odontella aurita, Skeletonema species complex, Chaetoceros diadema, Eucampia zodiacus, Dinophysis spp., and...

Exploring Long-Term Shifts in Phytoplankton by Conversion of Microscopic Images

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Critical steps of the protocol include obtaining microscopic images of phytoplankton and converting them into vector graphics. Making the images of phytoplankton, which are not noticeable to the naked eye, large enough to be seen without a magnifying glass on the mural, helps to bring them to life for the viewer. To accomplish this mural as not only a work of art but also a data visualization method, it is important to incorporate observed data into the project. In the case of the phytoplankton mural, the chlorophyll <em...

An erratum was issued for:&#160;<a href="https://www.jove.com/t/65571">Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton</a>. The Authors section was updated from:
Patricia S. Thibodeau1 
Jongsun Kim2 
1Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island 
2School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley
to:
Patricia S. Thibodeau1 
Jongsun Kim2 
1School of Marine and Environmental Programs, University of New England 
2School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley

An erratum was issued for:&#160;<a href="https://www.jove.com/t/65571">Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton</a>. The Authors section was updated.

Erratum: Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton are primary producers representing the base of the food web across aquatic ecosystems1,2. While phytoplankton monitoring programs are key to identifying current and future changes in marine ecosystems, their support is declining over time 3. Due to their relatively short generation times and limited mobility, phytoplankton are particularly responsive to climate change, which makes them an important tool in time series monitoring. Phytoplankton time series are also important for informing ecosystem-based management of resource availability&#160;and providing context for episodic events, such as marine heatwaves4. Short-term time series, on the matter of years, give insights into phytoplankton community succession and seasonal dynamics (e.g., ref.5,6), whereas long-term time series, such as the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) and Hawaii Ocean Times Series (HOTS) Programs, span&#160;more than two decades and enable the detection of long-term trends7,8. Such studies illustrate the benefit and importance of a highly resolved phytoplankton record for a complete understanding of long-term ecosystem change in dynamic marine environments. Further, visualizing and communicating these changes in phytoplankton, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, are more difficult to comprehend than for organisms that are large and readily visible, like fish and whales. Computer visualizations offer a technique to explore complex data sets9 and improved illustrative graphics are becoming readily available (e.g., Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science). However, most studies in phytoplankton ecology, including many referenced here, still only present results as data graphs reducing their accessibility to general audiences. Given that phytoplankton represent the base of the food web in most marine systems, communicating their importance to the nearly 2.4 billion people who live within the coastal ocean is critical10. Here, we developed a protocol with the goal of visualizing the diversity and magnitude of phytoplankton, as collected by a phytoplankton monitoring program.
The Narragansett Bay Plankton Time Series (NBPTS) provides a long-term 60+ year (1959-Present) perspective on the effects of global change within a climate context on phytoplankton abundance, seasonality, and phenology (life history). Narragansett Bay (NBay) is a coastal estuary connected to the broader systems of the U.S. Northeast Shelf and Northwest Atlantic whose production has important implications for fisheries and human use along the coastal U.S.A.11. NBay is considered a highly seasonal system experiencing long-term (1950-2015) warming waters in the region as well as shifts in nutrients and an increase in water clarity12,13. In addition, a decline in phytoplankton biomass has occurred in upper NBay related to anthropogenic decreases in dissolved inorganic nitrogen, which is partially attributed to upgrades in wastewater treatment plants12. Shifts in phytoplankton taxa, particularly harmful algal blooms (HABs), are also occurring in NBay. Pseudo-nitzschia spp., which produces pervasive toxic blooms in upwelling regions along the U.S. west coast, led to notable shellfish closures for the first time in NBay&#39;s history&#160;in 2016 and 201714,15,16. Communicating these changes to diverse audiences is important for increasing science literacy and for promoting continued support of phytoplankton monitoring studies.
The goal of this project was to utilize microscopic images of phytoplankton from NBay, as well as data synthesized from NBPTS, to visualize the literal shifts in phytoplankton taxa and biomass that are occurring in NBay to communicate and enhance the importance of phytoplankton to general audiences. NBPTS provides 60+ years of publicly available weekly phytoplankton counts and biomass to leverage data from (https://web.uri.edu/gso/research/plankton/). The final product was a large mural of plankton patterns representative of the time series data (e.g., phytoplankton biomass and taxa, temperature) within the art piece itself. This approach represents a visualization method that can be utilized for many other plankton time series throughout the world and can be adapted for monitoring programs with short-term, seasonal data as well. The benefits of implementing this protocol include increasing efforts in data visualization, science communication, education, and engagement with local communities.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Adobe Illustrator</td>
			<td>Adobe</td>
			<td>version 23.0.6</td>
			<td>Free alternatives include: Inkscape, GIMP, Vectr, Vectornator</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Eclipse E800</td>
			<td>Nikon</td>
			<td>ECLIPSE Ni/Ci Upright Microscope</td>
			<td>Now succeeded by Eclipse Ni-U</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Epson Large Format Printer</td>
			<td>Epson</td>
			<td>SCT5475SR</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Heavy Matte Paper</td>
			<td>Epson</td>
			<td>S041596</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RStudio</td>
			<td>Rstudio, PBC</td>
			<td>version 2022.07.1</td>
			<td>Any statistical software tool will suffice</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

visualizing oceanographic data to depict long-term changes in phytoplankton

Oceanographic time series provide&#160;an important perspective on environmental processes in ecosystems. The Narragansett Bay Long-Term Plankton Time Series (NBPTS) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA, represents one of the longest plankton time series (1959-present) of its kind in the world and presents a unique opportunity to visualize long-term change within an aquatic ecosystem. Phytoplankton represent&#160;the base of the food web in most marine systems, including Narragansett Bay. Therefore, communicating their importance to the 2.4 billion people who live within the coastal ocean is critical. We developed a protocol with the goal of visualizing the diversity and magnitude of phytoplankton by utilizing Adobe Illustrator to convert microscopic images of phytoplankton collected from the NBPTS into vector graphics that could be conformed into repetitive visual patterns through time. Numerically abundant taxa or those that posed economic and health threats, such as the harmful algal bloom taxa, Pseudo-nitzschia spp., were selected for image conversion. Patterns of various phytoplankton images were then created based on their relative abundance for select decades of data collected (1970s, 1990s, and 2010s). Decadal patterns of phytoplankton biomass informed the outline of each decade while a background color gradient from blue to red was used to reveal a long-term temperature increase observed in Narragansett Bay. Finally, large, 96-inch by 34-inch panels were printed with repeating phytoplankton patterns to illustrate potential changes in phytoplankton abundance over time. This project enables visualization of literal shifts in phytoplankton biomass, that are typically invisible to the naked eye while leveraging real-time series data (e.g., phytoplankton biomass and abundance) within the art piece itself. It represents an approach that can be utilized for many other plankton time series for data visualization, communication, education, and outreach efforts.

Author Spotlight: Unveiling Plankton Response to Climate Change Through Time-Series Data and Artistic Expression 

Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton

I am a plankton ecologist focused on characterizing the effects of rapid climate change on phytoplankton and zooplankton ecology and physiology. Plankton ecology requires both a mix of traditional and modern approaches. More recently, plankton imaging technology, in addition to microscopy, is being used to quantify and measure plankton.This technology decreases the time it takes to manually count plankton by utilizing artificial intelligence to count and classify plankton for us. This research visualizes one of the longest plankton time series in the world. These data sets are critical for providing context to understanding shifts in plankton communities and food webs in regions affected by rapid climate change.My research has helped to visualize the mechanisms underpinning those shifts. Given the microscopic nature of plankton, it can be difficult, particularly for scientists to visualize in communicate how plankton communities are changing over time. My protocol aims to provide a clear method for visualizing shifts in plankton communities, leveraging scientific data within an artistic framework.This protocol will hopefully encourage the other scientists to think more creatively about how they visualize and present their data, particularly to non-sized audience. There is open gap between lab result and how they are interpreted and present in society. So, I hope this protocol will help reach this gap.My lab will continue to leverage plankton time series data sets to identify the environmental factors affecting long-term changes in plankton communities, as well as conduct physiological experiments in the lab to understand the physiologic mechanisms underpinning these community ships in the northeast United States and beyond.

Results document a decline in phytoplankton biomass from the 1970s to 1990s to 2010s (Figure 1). All decades exhibited a bimodal peak in chlorophyll a (chl a) concentration with the first peak occurring in winter and the second occurring in summer. The 1970s exhibited higher average chl a in winter than in summer. Conversely, the 1990s showed lower chl a in winter than in summer. The 2010s returned to a higher mean chl a concentration in winter th...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Unveiling Plankton Response to Climate Change Through Time-Series Data and Artistic Expression at JoVE.com

Here, we present a protocol for converting phytoplankton microscopic images into vector graphics and repetitive patterns to enable visualization of shifts in phytoplankton taxa and biomass over 60 years. This protocol represents an approach that can be utilized for other plankton time series and datasets globally.

Oceanographic time series provide&#160;an important perspective on environmental processes in ecosystems. The Narragansett Bay Long-Term Plankton Time ...

visualizing-oceanographic-data-to-depict-long-term-changes