Increase of atmospheric CO2 promotes phytoplankton productivity

Photophysiological responses of marine diatoms to elevated CO2 and decreased pH: a review

Diatoms dominate nearly half of current oceanic productivity, so their responses to ocean acidification are of general concern regarding future oceanic carbon sequestration. Community, mesocosm and laboratory studies show a range of diatom growth and photophysiological responses to increasing pCO2. Nearly 20 studies on effects of elevated pCO2 on diatoms have shown stimulations, no effects or inhibitions of growth rates. These differential responses could result from differences in experimental setups, cell densities, levels of light and temperature, but also from taxon-specific physiology. Generally, ocean acidification treatments of lowered pH with elevated CO2 stimulate diatom growth under low to moderate levels of light, but lead to growth inhibition when combined with excess light. Additionally, diatom cell sizes and their co-varying metabolic rates can influence responses to increasing pCO2 and decreasing pH, although cell size effects are confounded with taxonomic specificities in cell structures and metabolism. Here we summarise known diatom growth and photophysiological responses to increasing pCO2 and decreasing pH, and discuss some reasons for the diverse responses observed across studies.

Genetic diversity of inorganic carbon uptake systems causes variation in CO2 response of the cyanobacterium Microcystis

Rising CO2 levels may act as an important selective factor on the CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM) of cyanobacteria. We investigated genetic diversity in the CCM of Microcystis aeruginosa, a species producing harmful cyanobacterial blooms in many lakes worldwide. All 20 investigated Microcystis strains contained complete genes for two CO2 uptake systems, the ATP-dependent bicarbonate uptake system BCT1 and several carbonic anhydrases (CAs). However, 12 strains lacked either the high-flux bicarbonate transporter BicA or the high-affinity bicarbonate transporter SbtA. Both genes, bicA and sbtA, were located on the same operon, and the expression of this operon is most likely regulated by an additional LysR-type transcriptional regulator (CcmR2). Strains with only a small bicA fragment clustered together in the phylogenetic tree of sbtAB, and the bicA fragments were similar in strains isolated from different continents. This indicates that a common ancestor may first have lost most of its bicA gene and subsequently spread over the world. Growth experiments showed that strains with sbtA performed better at low inorganic carbon (Ci) conditions, whereas strains with bicA performed better at high Ci conditions. This offers an alternative explanation of previous competition experiments, as our results reveal that the competition at low CO2 levels was won by a specialist with only sbtA, whereas a generalist with both bicA and sbtA won at high CO2 levels. Hence, genetic and phenotypic variation in Ci uptake systems provide Microcystis with the potential for microevolutionary adaptation to changing CO2 conditions, with a selective advantage for bicA-containing strains in a high-CO2 world.

Symbiodinium community composition in scleractinian corals is not affected by life-long exposure to elevated carbon dioxide

Ocean acidification (OA) is expected to negatively affect coral reefs, however little is known about how OA will change the coral-algal symbiosis on which reefs ultimately depend. This study investigated whether there would be differences in coral Symbiodinium types in response to OA, potentially improving coral performance. We used denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of ribosomal DNA to investigate the dominant types of Symbiodinium associating with six species of scleractinian coral that were exposed to elevated partial pressures of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in situ from settlement and throughout their lives. The study was conducted at three naturally occurring volcanic CO2 seeps (pCO2 ∼500 to 900 ppm, pHTotal 7.8 - 7.9) and adjacent control areas (pCO2 ∼390 ppm, pHTotal ∼8.0 - 8.05) in Papua New Guinea. The Symbiodinium associated with corals living in an extreme seep site (pCO2 >1000 ppm) were also examined. Ten clade C types and three clade D types dominated the 443 coral samples. Symbiodinium types strongly contrasted between coral species, however, no differences were observed due to CO2 exposure. Within five species, 85 - 95% of samples exhibited the same Symbiodinium type across all sites, with remaining rare types having no patterns attributable to CO2 exposure. The sixth species of coral displayed site specific differences in Symbiodinium types, unrelated to CO2 exposure. Symbiodinium types from the coral inhabiting the extreme CO2 seep site were found commonly throughout the moderate seeps and control areas. Our finding that symbiotic associations did not change in response to CO2 exposure suggest that, within the six coral hosts, none of the investigated 13 clade C and D Symbiodinium types had a selective advantage at high pCO2. Acclimatisation through changing symbiotic association therefore does not seem to be an option for Indo-Pacific corals to deal with future OA.

Rising CO2 interacts with growth light and growth rate to alter photosystem II photoinactivation of the coastal diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana

We studied the interactive effects of pCO₂ and growth light on the coastal marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana CCMP 1335 growing under ambient and expected end-of-the-century pCO₂ (750 ppmv), and a range of growth light from 30 to 380 µmol photons·m⁻²·s⁻¹. Elevated pCO₂ significantly stimulated the growth of T. pseudonana under sub-saturating growth light, but not under saturating to super-saturating growth light. Under ambient pCO₂ susceptibility to photoinactivation of photosystem II (σ_i) increased with increasing growth rate, but cells growing under elevated pCO₂ showed no dependence between growth rate and σ_i, so under high growth light cells under elevated pCO₂ were less susceptible to photoinactivation of photosystem II, and thus incurred a lower running cost to maintain photosystem II function. Growth light altered the contents of RbcL (RUBISCO) and PsaC (PSI) protein subunits, and the ratios among the subunits, but there were only limited effects on these and other protein pools between cells grown under ambient and elevated pCO₂.

Transgenerational effects of microcystin-LR on Daphnia magna

Anthropogenic and climate factors increase the frequency of problematic cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater. Among other toxins, some cyanobacteria produce microcystins (MCs), which inhibit phosphatases type 1 and type 2A and provokes oxidative stress. Toxic cyanobacteria affect the growth, survival and reproduction of zooplankton, particularly those from the genus Daphnia, which have a central position in pelagic food webs. However, one possibility to ameliorate effects is to biotransform MC via glutathione S transferase (GST) to a less toxic glutathione conjugate. This process was hypothesised to underlie the ability of Daphnia to withstand MC and to explain the enhanced tolerance of the offspring from mothers exposed to toxic cyanobacteria. Thus we conducted multigenerational experiments with D. magna, exposing the parental generation to MC for 1 or 7 days and determining the enzyme-mediated tolerance to MC in their offspring by assessing the acute effect of MC on biotransformation and antioxidant and metabolism enzymes, and through 21 day chronic tests on toxicity and growth. Seven days of exposure of the parental generation to MC induced higher activity of GST and malate dehydrogenase in the offspring and enabled them to increment the catalase activity when challenged with MC, whereas 1 day of exposure of the parental generation did not. Offspring from non-exposed and 1-day-exposed mothers suffered decreased survival when exposed to MC compared with offspring from 7-day-exposed mothers; survival was correlated with the elevated activity of GST, malate dehydrogenase and catalase, suggesting maternal transfer of activation factors. However, increased survival occurred at the expense of individual growth. These results suggest that transgenerational effects are provoked by MC in D. magna, which may explain the observed acquirement of enhanced tolerance over generations.

Physiological responses of the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana to increased pCO2 and seawater acidity

We studied the effects of elevated CO(2) concentration and seawater acidity on inorganic carbon acquisition, photoinhibition and photoprotection as well as growth and respiration in the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. After having grown under the elevated CO(2) level (1000 μatm, pH 7.83) at sub-saturating photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 75 μmol photons m(-2) s(-1)) for 20 generations, photosynthesis and dark respiration of the alga increased by 25% (14.69 ± 2.55 fmol C cell(-1) h(-1)) and by 35% (4.42 ± 0.98 fmol O(2) cell(-1) h(-1)), respectively, compared to that grown under the ambient CO(2) level (390 μatm, pH 8.16), leading to insignificant effects on growth (1.09 ± 0.08 d(-1)v 1.04 ± 0.07 d(-1)). The photosynthetic affinity for CO(2) was lowered in the high-CO(2) grown cells, reflecting a down-regulation of the CO(2) concentrating mechanism (CCM). When exposed to an excessively high level of PAR, photochemical and non-photochemical quenching responded similarly in the low- and high-CO(2) grown cells, reflecting that photoinhibition was not influenced by the enriched level of CO(2). In T. pseudonana, it appeared that the energy saved due to the down-regulated CCM did not contribute to any additional light stress as previously found in another diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, indicating differential physiological responses to ocean acidification between these two diatom species.

Inhibition of the growth of two blue-green algae species (Microsystis aruginosa and Anabaena spiroides) by acidification treatments using carbon dioxide

The effect of pH adjusted by aeration with carbon dioxide (CO(2)) on the growth of two species of blue-green algae, Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena spiroides, was investigated. Three conditions (pH 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5) were found to have significant inhibitory effects on the growth of the two algae species when acidification treatment was conducted during the logarithmic phase. Differences in the inhibition effect of acidification existed between the two species algae. The tolerance of M. aeruginosa to these conditions was also investigated. The results indicated that M. aeruginosa was inhibited significantly, but not dead at pH 6.5, whereas death occurred at pH 5.5 and 6.0. The greatest inhibitory effect of acidification treatment conducted during the stable breeding phase of M. aeruginosa occurred at pH 5.5, while no inhibitory effect was found at pH 6.5.

TESTING THE EFFECTS OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON ALGAL METABOLISM: CONSIDERATIONS FOR EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS(1)

Ocean acidification describes changes in the carbonate chemistry of the ocean due to the increased absorption of anthropogenically released CO2 . Experiments to elucidate the biological effects of ocean acidification on algae are not straightforward because when pH is altered, the carbon speciation in seawater is altered, which has implications for photosynthesis and, for calcifying algae, calcification. Furthermore, photosynthesis, respiration, and calcification will themselves alter the pH of the seawater medium. In this review, algal physiologists and seawater carbonate chemists combine their knowledge to provide the fundamental information on carbon physiology and seawater carbonate chemistry required to comprehend the complexities of how ocean acidification might affect algae metabolism. A wide range in responses of algae to ocean acidification has been observed, which may be explained by differences in algal physiology, timescales of the responses measured, study duration, and the method employed to alter pH. Two methods have been widely used in a range of experimental systems: CO2 bubbling and HCl/NaOH additions. These methods affect the speciation of carbonate ions in the culture medium differently; we discuss how this could influence the biological responses of algae and suggest a third method based on HCl/NaHCO3 additions. We then discuss eight key points that should be considered prior to setting up experiments, including which method of manipulating pH to choose, monitoring during experiments, techniques for adding acidified seawater, biological side effects, and other environmental factors. Finally, we consider incubation timescales and prior conditioning of algae in terms of regulation, acclimation, and adaptation to ocean acidification.

Ocean acidification and its potential effects on marine ecosystems

Ocean acidification is rapidly changing the carbonate system of the world oceans. Past mass extinction events have been linked to ocean acidification, and the current rate of change in seawater chemistry is unprecedented. Evidence suggests that these changes will have significant consequences for marine taxa, particularly those that build skeletons, shells, and tests of biogenic calcium carbonate. Potential changes in species distributions and abundances could propagate through multiple trophic levels of marine food webs, though research into the long-term ecosystem impacts of ocean acidification is in its infancy. This review attempts to provide a general synthesis of known and/or hypothesized biological and ecosystem responses to increasing ocean acidification. Marine taxa covered in this review include tropical reef-building corals, cold-water corals, crustose coralline algae, Halimeda, benthic mollusks, echinoderms, coccolithophores, foraminifera, pteropods, seagrasses, jellyfishes, and fishes. The risk of irreversible ecosystem changes due to ocean acidification should enlighten the ongoing CO(2) emissions debate and make it clear that the human dependence on fossil fuels must end quickly. Political will and significant large-scale investment in clean-energy technologies are essential if we are to avoid the most damaging effects of human-induced climate change, including ocean acidification.

Adaptation, extinction and global change

We discuss three interlinked issues: the natural pace of environmental change and adaptation, the likelihood that a population will adapt to a potentially lethal change, and adaptation to elevated CO2, the prime mover of global change. Environmental variability is governed by power laws showing that ln difference in conditions increases with ln elapsed time at a rate of 0.3-0.4. This leads to strong but fluctuating selection in many natural populations.The effect of repeated adverse change on mean fitness depends on its frequency rather than its severity. If the depression of mean fitness leads to population decline, however, severe stress may cause extinction. Evolutionary rescue from extinction requires abundant genetic variation or a high mutation supply rate, and thus a large population size. Although natural populations can sustain quite intense selection, they often fail to adapt to anthropogenic stresses such as pollution and acidification and instead become extinct.Experimental selection lines of algae show no specific adaptation to elevated CO2, but instead lose their carbon-concentrating mechanism through mutational degradation. This is likely to reduce the effectiveness of the oceanic carbon pump. Elevated CO2 is also likely to lead to changes in phytoplankton community composition, although it is not yet clear what these will be. We emphasize the importance of experimental evolution in understanding and predicting the biological response to global change. This will be one of the main tasks of evolutionary biologists in the coming decade.