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Published (Version of record)CC BY V3.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V3.0, Open
Journal article
Ocean acidification changes the structure of an Antarctic coastal protistan community
Biogeosciences, Vol.15(8), pp.2393-2410
20/04/2018
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Abstract
Antarctic near-shore waters are amongst the most sensitive in the world to ocean acidification. Microbes occupying these waters are critical drivers of ecosystem productivity, elemental cycling and ocean biogeochemistry, yet little is known about their sensitivity to ocean acidification. A six-level, dose–response experiment was conducted using 650 L incubation tanks (minicosms) adjusted to a gradient in fugacity of carbon dioxide (fCO2) from 343 to 1641 µatm. The six minicosms were filled with near-shore water from Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, and the protistan composition and abundance was determined by microscopy during 18 days of incubation. No CO2-related change in the protistan community composition was observed during the initial 8 day acclimation period under low light. Thereafter, the response of both autotrophic and heterotrophic protists to fCO2 was species-specific. The response of diatoms was mainly cell size related; microplanktonic diatoms (> 20 µm) increased in abundance with low to moderate fCO2 (343–634 µatm) but decreased at fCO2 ≥ 953 µatm. Similarly, the abundance of Phaeocystis antarctica increased with increasing fCO2 peaking at 634 µatm. Above this threshold the abundance of micro-sized diatoms and P. antarctica fell dramatically, and nanoplanktonic diatoms (≤ 20 µm) dominated, therefore culminating in a significant change in the protistan community composition. Comparisons of these results with previous experiments conducted at this site show that the fCO2 thresholds are similar, despite seasonal and interannual differences in the physical and biotic environment. This suggests that near-shore microbial communities are likely to change significantly near the end of this century if anthropogenic CO2 release continues unabated, with profound ramifications for near-shore Antarctic ecosystem food webs and biogeochemical cycling.
Details
- Title
- Ocean acidification changes the structure of an Antarctic coastal protistan community
- Creators
- Alyce M Hancock - University of TasmaniaAndrew T Davidson - Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research CentreJohn McKinlay - Australian Antarctic DivisionAndrew McMinn - University of TasmaniaKai G Schulz - Southern Cross UniversityRick L van den Enden - Australian Antarctic Division
- Publication Details
- Biogeosciences, Vol.15(8), pp.2393-2410
- Publisher
- Copernicus GmbH
- Grant note
- This work was supported by the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy as part of Australian Antarctic Science project 4026 at the Australian Antarctic Division, as well as the Australian Research Council's Special Research Initiative for Antarctic Gateway Partnership (Project ID SR140300001) and the Australian Governments Cooperative Research Centres Program through the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC).
- Identifiers
- 991012926992702368
- Copyright
- © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
- Academic Unit
- School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Science; Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry; Faculty of Science and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article