Dataset Information

Enhancement of diatom growth and phytoplankton productivity with reduced O₂ availability is moderated by rising CO₂.

ABSTRACT: Many marine organisms are exposed to decreasing O₂ levels due to warming-induced expansion of hypoxic zones and ocean deoxygenation (DeO₂). Nevertheless, effects of DeO₂ on phytoplankton have been neglected due to technical bottlenecks on examining O₂ effects on O₂-producing organisms. Here we show that lowered O₂ levels increased primary productivity of a coastal phytoplankton assemblage, and enhanced photosynthesis and growth in the coastal diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii. Mechanistically, reduced O₂ suppressed mitochondrial respiration and photorespiration of T. weissflogii, but increased the efficiency of their CO₂ concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), effective quantum yield and improved light use efficiency, which was apparent under both ambient and elevated CO₂ concentrations leading to ocean acidification (OA). While the elevated CO₂ treatment partially counteracted the effect of low O₂ in terms of CCMs activity, reduced levels of O₂ still strongly enhanced phytoplankton primary productivity. This implies that decreased availability of O₂ with progressive DeO₂ could boost re-oxygenation by diatom-dominated phytoplankton communities, especially in hypoxic areas, with potentially profound consequences for marine ecosystem services in coastal and pelagic oceans.

SUBMITTER: Sun JZ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8760321 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Enhancement of diatom growth and phytoplankton productivity with reduced O2 availability is moderated by rising CO2.

Sun Jia-Zhen JZ Wang Tifeng T Huang Ruiping R Yi Xiangqi X Zhang Di D Beardall John J Hutchins David A DA Liu Xin X Wang Xuyang X Deng Zichao Z Li Gang G Gao Guang G Gao Kunshan K

Communications biology 20220114 1

Many marine organisms are exposed to decreasing O2 levels due to warming-induced expansion of hypoxic zones and ocean deoxygenation (DeO2). Nevertheless, effects of DeO2 on phytoplankton have been neglected due to technical bottlenecks on examining O2 effects on O2-producing organisms. Here we show that lowered O2 levels increased primary productivity of a coastal phytoplankton assemblage, and enhanced photosynthesis and growth in ...[more]

PMID: 35031680

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Project description:Rising atmospheric CO 2 and ocean acidification are fundamentally altering conditions for life of all marine organisms, including phytoplankton. Differences in CO 2 related physiology between major phytoplankton taxa lead to differences in their ability to take up and utilize CO 2. These differences may cause predictable shifts in the composition of marine phytoplankton communities in response to rising atmospheric CO 2. We report an experiment in which seven species of marine phytoplankton, belonging to four major taxonomic groups (cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, diatoms, and coccolithophores), were grown at both ambient (500 μatm) and future (1,000 μatm) CO 2 levels. These phytoplankton were grown as individual species, as cultures of pairs of species and as a community assemblage of all seven species in two culture regimes (high-nitrogen batch cultures and lower-nitrogen semicontinuous cultures, although not under nitrogen limitation). All phytoplankton species tested in this study increased their growth rates under elevated CO 2 independent of the culture regime. We also find that, despite species-specific variation in growth response to high CO 2, the identity of major taxonomic groups provides a good prediction of changes in population growth and competitive ability under high CO 2. The CO 2-induced growth response is a good predictor of CO 2-induced changes in competition (R2 > .93) and community composition (R2 > .73). This study suggests that it may be possible to infer how marine phytoplankton communities respond to rising CO 2 levels from the knowledge of the physiology of major taxonomic groups, but that these predictions may require further characterization of these traits across a diversity of growth conditions. These findings must be validated in the context of limitation by other nutrients. Also, in natural communities of phytoplankton, numerous other factors that may all respond to changes in CO2, including nitrogen fixation, grazing, and variation in the limiting resource will likely complicate this prediction.

Dataset Information

Enhancement of diatom growth and phytoplankton productivity with reduced O₂ availability is moderated by rising CO₂.

Publications

Enhancement of diatom growth and phytoplankton productivity with reduced O<sub>2</sub> availability is moderated by rising CO<sub>2</sub>.

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