Impact of ocean acidification on the structure of future phytoplankton communities
Name
5989_3_merged_1433536015[51].pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
602.28 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6a941477103d2f30d2c533554545026a
Author(s)
Dutkiewicz, Stephanie
Morris, J Jeffrey
Follows, Michael J
Scott, Jeffery
Levitan, Orly
Dyhrman, Sonya T
Berman-Frank, Ilana
Date Issued
November 2015
Journal
Nature Climate Change
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Dutkiewicz, S., Morris, J., Follows, M. et al. Impact of ocean acidification on the structure of future phytoplankton communities. Nature Clim Change 5, 1002–1006 (2015).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Phytoplankton form the foundation of the marine food web and regulate key biogeochemical processes. These organisms face multiple environmental changes, including the decline in ocean pH (ocean acidification) caused by rising atmospheric p CO 2 (ref.). A meta-analysis of published experimental data assessing growth rates of different phytoplankton taxa under both ambient and elevated p CO 2 conditions revealed a significant range of responses. This effect of ocean acidification was incorporated into a global marine ecosystem model to explore how marine phytoplankton communities might be impacted over the course of a hypothetical twenty-first century. Results emphasized that the differing responses to elevated p CO 2 caused sufficient changes in competitive fitness between phytoplankton types to significantly alter community structure. At the level of ecological function of the phytoplankton community, acidification had a greater impact than warming or reduced nutrient supply. The model suggested that longer timescales of competition- and transport-mediated adjustments are essential for predicting changes to phytoplankton community structure.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Global Change Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2722
