Virtual Issues
These themed issues allow you to read a selection of papers on key topics.
Pioneers in Plankton Research
This Virtual Special Issue groups a series of essays on some very remarkable individuals. Each made important contributions to the development of plankton research in the early years. In contrast to today's tendency of hyper-specialization, most worked on a large variety of taxa and embraced both field and laboratory work. Out of necessity, they developed their own methods and devices for plankton research. The essays on pioneers of plankton research in this virtual special issue are attempts to shine light on some of the important workers of the past, perhaps little known to most of us today: Victor Hensen, Marie Lebour, Yoshine Hada, Shiena Marshall, Hans Utermöhl and Alister Hardy.
Diatoms
This virtual issue presents a collection of Journal of Plankton Research papers, focusing on diatoms with an emphasis on stress responses to nutrient limitation, climate warming and acidification. Together, these papers demonstrate the many ways diatoms can be studied, from the laboratory to the field.
Parasites in the Plankton
The articles clearly show that in the plankton an organism need not be swallowed to be consumed! You will find studies concerning the parasites of diatoms, copepods, daphnids, medusa, ctenophores, chaetognaths, shrimps, and even the planktonic stages of the parasites of crabs and fish. With this virtual special issue we hope to shine a light on the ubiquity and importance of parasites in the plankton.
Probing the Plankton with Molecular Tools
This collection of articles showcases recent (2018-2020) JPR articles in which a wide variety of molecular tools have been employed. The target groups in the studies range from bacteria to both autotrophic and heterotrophic protists, and to taxa of the metazoan zooplankton carried out in both freshwater and marine systems.
JPR Articles of Karl E. Havens III
This virtual issue is a collection of the articles authored by Karl Havens in JPR. It is our tribute to an outstanding scientist who among his many activities was serving as an Associate Editor at JPR from 2015, until his sudden passing in April 2019. The collection of 15 articles, published from 1991 to 2016, represents a fairly representative sample of his research that focused on factors governing the community composition and activities of planktonic communities of lakes. It is just a fraction of his total research output that includes over 140 publications over the period 1991-2016.
Zooplankton Plastivory
Plastic pollution has become a global issue affecting even the most remote regions of the ocean. This virtual issue, introduced by Xabier Irigoien, is a collection of JPR papers on microplastic ingestion "plastivory", in a wide range of zooplankton, from both marine and freshwater environments. The JPR papers show that plastic fragments are likely to enter food webs from all levels of the planktonic compartment. These studies of feeding behaviour can be used to obtain general patterns of the filtration rates and therefore provide a first order estimate of the potential ingestion of plastics by zooplankton.
JPR goes Tropical
The major threats to aquatic life have increased in intensity particularly in tropical areas. However, our knowledge of the plankton in tropical areas is relatively sparse which makes it difficult to predict the effects that multiple anthropogenic stressors will have on these ecosystems. This special virtual issue collects tropical plankton papers published in JPR during the last four decades. Most of these 31 papers represent studies dealing with seasonal dynamics and environmental forcing, or physiology, behavior and species interactions in plankton originating from widely different tropical environments, with an introduction by Marja Koski, Associate Editor of JPR.
RPH in JPR
After a decade in the role of Editor-in-Chief, as well as several years on the Strategic Editorial team, it is time to bid a fond farewell to Roger Harris. Roger has been an integral part of the Journal of Plankton Research (JPR) family for close to 15 years, and in addition to his EiC duties over the last 10 years, has played a massive part in shaping the journal as it is today. Through the creation of Horizons reviews to the addition of the David Cushing prize, JPR has gone from strength to strength under his guidance, consistently ranked highly in the “Marine & Freshwater Biology” and “Oceanography” categories. While Roger will be stepping down from his role at EiC at the end of 2017, he won’t be leaving us completely and still be an active member of the JPR team. In honour of a tremendous job well done, we’ve compiled a virtual collection of key articles Roger has contributed to during his time with the journal, introduced by Marja Koski, Associate Editor of JPR.
Pacific Plankton
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world oceans. It’s importance is reflected in the number and variety of papers published in Journal of Plankton Research, both historically and to the present day. Here we are highlighting a secletion of these papers to coincide with the 2017 Aquatic Sciences Meeting being held from Feb 26 to March 3 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Marine Bacterioplankton
Read a selection of articles from the last 10 years exploring the forcing factors that are influencing marine bacterial and archaeal plankton. The collection hopes to shed some light on the little understood intimate links that exist between various types of plankton.
Tintinnid Ciliates of the Microzooplankton
For over 35 years, JPR has been publishing articles focusing on these curious shelled ciliates of the marine microzooplankton. While most of the studies have concerned seasonal distributions and abundances, a very wide range of topics have been addressed.
Larval Fish
The larvae of many fish species occur temporarily in the plankton. Their feeding interactions with other planktonic organisms have a major influence on recruitment to many of the world’s important fisheries.
Spanish Contributions to Plankton Research
Spanish authors are active contributors to the JPR. Over 300 papers from Spain have been published in the journal since its launch in 1979.
Zooplankton Feeding Methodology
Methods for investigating zooplankton feeding have been the focus of a considerable body of papers in the Journal of Plankton Research. The collection of papers in this virtual special issue focuses on recent articles on a range of new approaches to quantifying feeding and digestion.
Mnemiopsis leidyi, Recent Studies on an Invasive Ctenophore
In this Virtual Issue we present a selection of this work on Mnemiopsis covering aspects of invasion ecology, impacts on European ecosystems, feeding and larval physiology, potential predators, species identity and sample preservation.
Plankton Functional Traits
This special issue, which has been organized by Associate Editors Beatrix Beisner and Zoe Finkel, represents the shift in research over the past decade and a half in trait-based approaches to plankton ecology. The Journal of Plankton Research has published many innovative Reviews, Horizons and original articles on plankton functional traits and functional group modelling.
Recent Japanese Contributions to Plankton Research
Japanese authors are active contributors to the Journal of Plankton Research. Over 200 papers from Japan have been published in the journal since its launch in 1979. To coincide with the 2012 ASLO Aquatic Sciences meeting being held at Lake Biwa, Otsu, Japan we are highlighting recent papers from Japan in this collection.
Experimental Lakes Area
A recent editorial (Beisner, 2012) drew attention to the important contribution that studies as part of the Experimental Lakes Area programme in Canada have made to freshwater plankton ecology. Some of these studies, on a range of topics, have been important contributions to the Journal of Plankton Research.This collection highlights these papers.
