 Together, the studies confirmed changes in phytoplankton communities in Korean waters by identifying dinoflagellate species changes, with the second paper both verifying the first and widening the scope of the changes.The authors suggest that these trends could be a result of increasing sea surface temperatures due to global warming.As such, "Ornithocercus" species could be used as indicator species and evidence for climate change and specifically marine ecosystem change if coupled with other environmental data.