Understanding biology in dynamic regions: lessons from the ENTiCE project
Glaucia Fragoso

Coastal waters are some of the most dynamic and biologically productive regions on our planet, supporting high biodiversity and providing a wide range of ecosystem services. Due to the ephemeral nature of coastal regions, biological communities are often difficult to study. A combination of investigative tools, such as discrete water sampling, modelling approaches, in-situ profiling and autonomous vehicles can, however, help to answer questions regarding what controls the biological production and environmental variability in a system. In this talk, we show some results from the ENTiCE (ENabling Technology providing knowledge of structure, function and production in a complex Coastal Ecosystem) project. In this project we combined several methods, such as discrete sampling, optical in situ and autonomous vehicles measurements to understand the physical controls (light and nutrients) on phytoplankton and particle (e.g. zooplankton and fecal pellets) dynamics in Mausund Bank (north of Frøya), a productive coastal area of Norway. The combination of approaches showed that different hydrographical scenarios across a short distance of the bank (<3 Km) influenced phytoplankton and particle abundance and diversity. In spite of the success of ENTiCE regarding sampling approaches, more cooperation is needed between biologists, modelers and engineers in order to better align ecologically significant questions before sampling takes place.