The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early-impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate future impacts. Through a novel coastal OA observing network, we have uncovered a remarkably persistent spatial mosaic in the penetration of acidified waters into ecologically-important nearshore habitats across 1,000 km of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. In the most severe exposure hotspots, suboptimal conditions for calcifying organisms encompassed up to 56% of the summer season, and were accompanied by some of the lowest and most variable pH environments known for the surface ocean. Persistent refuge areas were also found, highlighting new opportunities for local adaptation to address the global challenge of OA in productive coastal systems.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSiii ABSTRACTHarmful algal blooms (HABs) can threaten animal and human health through the production of toxins such as domoic acid. These blooms have become more frequent and toxic over the last few decades. In this study, we investigate the role that nutrients play in a toxic, subsurface bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia in northeastern Monterey Bay, California.Profilers and towed instruments were deployed and laboratory analyses of discrete water samples were conducted to describe the physical and biogeochemical conditions of the sampling site and to characterize the bloom. The Pseudo-nitzschia bloom occurred within a well-defined subsurface layer, containing high levels of domoic acid. In situ images taken within the layer revealed diatom flocs -indicators of nutrient stress. Nutrient ratios and alkaline phosphatase activity, commonly used to determine the nutritional status of phytoplankton, suggest that the Pseudo-nitzschia cells were phosphate stressed, and we speculate that this physiological stress led to increased toxicity of the bloom.Understanding how frequently blooms such as these are characterized by nutrient stress could improve our ability to predict the occurrence of HABs. With increased anthropogenic input of nutrients, such blooms could occur more often and with greater degrees of toxicity in the future.iv