Understanding, Characterizing, and Communicating Responses to Ocean Acidification: Challenges and Uncertainties

Effects of elevated CO2 on phytoplankton during a mesocosm experiment in the southern eutrophicated coastal water of China

“…CO 2 dissolved in seawater forms free H + ions, lowering ocean pH and shifting dissolved inorganic carbon away from carbonate (CO 3 2− ) towards more bicarbonate (HCO 3 − ) and CO 2 . This global effect of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions on ocean carbonate chemistry is of concern because it is already lowering the pH of the oceans, which may have ramifications for the growth, productivity and dominance of individual organisms or whole marine ecosystems 2 .…”

“…In eutrophic coastal waters, diatoms and prymnesiophytes are dominant groups 8 , and responsible for a large fraction of oceanic primary production, playing an important role in marine ecosystems. Some typical species, such as Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Emiliania huxleyi , have been intensively studied with respect to their modes of C acquisition and various responses to changes in seawater CO 2 at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels 2 , 10 . However, since a majority of laboratory studies have investigated responses of single species, the knowledge obtained is difficult to extrapolate to these species’ responses to ocean acidification in natural complex environments.…”

“…On the other hand, there are too many species in natural communities, including phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacteria. In addition, natural communities in coastal waters have to confront to the complex influences of both natural change and human activities 2 . Therefore, we presently know little about how these organism responses scale up to the community and ecosystem levels and what the consequences are for marine food webs and biogeochemical cycles 6 , 7 , 11 .…”

Using integrated, ecosystem-level management to address intensifying ocean acidification and hypoxia in the California Current large marine ecosystem

“…This dynamic physical setting in turn interacts with localized processes such as primary production and respiration, land-based inputs of nutrients and acidifying chemical constituents, and freshwater inflows to intensify the coastal expression of OAH (Figure 1; Hales et al, 2016). These time-variant expressions of OAH in the CCLME will shift as climate-induced changes progress and intensify, contributing to the dynamism of the system and creating some amount of irreducible uncertainty (Busch et al, 2015).…”

Transdisciplinary Science: A Path to Understanding the Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Ecosystems, and Society

“…Discussion of pioneering TD studies and experiences are available in Hadorn et al (2008 Despite these accomplishments, recent reviews of the state of OA science (Pfister et al, 2014; many papers in this issue) identify significant deficiencies in the ability of OA researchers to produce solution-oriented knowledge. In particular, there are gaps regarding the characterization of OA in environmental systems (Andersson et al, 2015;Martz et al, 2015;Salisbury et al, 2015;Sutton et al, 2015, all in this issue), the linkage of measurements to processes (Breitburg et al, 2015;Busch et al, 2015;Levin et al, 2015;McLaughlin et al, 2015, all in this issue), and the development of predictive capabilities (Busch et al, 2015, in this issue). Together, these gaps impede the transfer of knowledge across thematic elements, jeopardizing the achievement of realistic projections of environmental and societal impacts of OA.…”