Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is the primary substrate for photosynthesis by the phytoplankton that form the base of the marine food web and mediate biogeochemical cycling of C and nutrient elements. Specific growth rate and elemental composition (C:N:P) were characterized for 7 cosmopolitan coastal and oceanic phytoplankton species (5 diatoms and 2 chlorophytes) using low density, nutrient-replete, semi-continuous culture experiments in which CO 2 was manipulated to 4 levels ranging from post-bloom/glacial maxima (< 290 ppm) to geological maxima levels (> 2900 ppm). Specific growth rates at high CO 2 were from 19 to 60% higher than in low CO 2 treatments in 4 species and 44% lower in 1 species; there was no significant change in 2 species. Higher CO 2 availability also resulted in elevated C:P and N:P molar ratios in Thalassiosira pseudonana (~60 to 90% higher), lower C:P and N:P molar ratios in 3 species (~20 to 50% lower), and no change in 3 species. Carbonate system-driven changes in growth rate did not necessarily result in changes in elemental composition, or vice versa. In a subset of 4 species for which fatty acid composition was examined, elevated CO 2 did not affect the contribution of polyunsaturated fatty acids to total fatty acids significantly. These species show relatively little sensitivity between present day CO 2 and predicted ocean acidification scenarios (year 2100). The results, however, demonstrate that CO 2 availability at environmentally and geologically relevant scales can result in large changes in phytoplankton physiology, with potentially large feedbacks to ocean biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem structure.
We used flow cytometry to determine if there would be a difference in hematology, selected immune functions, and hemocyte pH (pHi), under two different, future ocean acidification scenarios (pH = 7.50, 7.80) compared to current conditions (pH = 8.09) for Chionoecetes bairdi, Tanner crab. Hemocytes were analyzed after adult Tanner crabs were held for two years under continuous exposure to acidified ocean water. Total counts of hemocytes did not vary among control and experimental treatments; however, there were significantly greater number of dead, circulating hemocytes in crabs held at the lowest pH treatment. Phagocytosis of fluorescent microbeads by hemocytes was greatest at the lowest pH treatment. These results suggest that hemocytes were dying, likely by apoptosis, at a rate faster than upregulated phagocytosis was able to remove moribund cells from circulation at the lowest pH. Crab hemolymph pH (pHe) averaged 8.09 and did not vary among pH treatments. There was no significant difference in internal pH (pHi) within hyalinocytes among pH treatments and the mean pHi (7.26) was lower than the mean pHe. In contrast, there were significant differences among treatments in pHi of the semi-granular+granular cells. Control crabs had the highest mean semi-granular+granular pHi compared to the lowest pH treatment. As physiological hemocyte functions changed from ambient conditions, interactions with the number of eggs in the second clutch, percentage of viable eggs, and calcium concentration in the adult crab shell was observed. This suggested that the energetic costs of responding to ocean acidification and maintaining defense mechanisms in Tanner crab may divert energy from other physiological processes, such as reproduction.
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