Future phytoplankton diversity in a changing climate
Name
s41467-021-25699-w.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.53 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
49213f574f913b7570a021d9aba58df1
Author(s)
Henson, Stephanie A
Cael, BB
Allen, Stephanie R
Dutkiewicz, Stephanie
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Henson, S.A., Cael, B.B., Allen, S.R. et al. Future phytoplankton diversity in a changing climate. Nat Commun 12, 5372 (2021).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The future response of marine ecosystem diversity to continued anthropogenic forcing is poorly constrained. Phytoplankton are a diverse set of organisms that form the base of the marine ecosystem. Currently, ocean biogeochemistry and ecosystem models used for climate change projections typically include only 2−3 phytoplankton types and are, therefore, too simple to adequately assess the potential for changes in plankton community structure. Here, we analyse a complex ecosystem model with 35 phytoplankton types to evaluate the changes in phytoplankton community composition, turnover and size structure over the 21st century. We find that the rate of turnover in the phytoplankton community becomes faster during this century, that is, the community structure becomes increasingly unstable in response to climate change. Combined with alterations to phytoplankton diversity, our results imply a loss of ecological resilience with likely knock-on effects on the productivity and functioning of the marine environment.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Global Change Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25699-w
