Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Ocean acidification in response to rising atmospheric CO2 partial pressures is widely expected to reduce calcification by marine organisms. From the mid-Mesozoic, coccolithophores have been major calcium carbonate producers in the world's oceans, today accounting for about a third of the total marine CaCO3 production. Here, we present laboratory evidence that calcification and net primary production in the coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi are significantly increased by high CO2 partial pressures. Field evidence from the deep ocean is consistent with these laboratory conclusions, indicating that over the past 220 years there has been a 40% increase in average coccolith mass. Our findings show that coccolithophores are already responding and will probably continue to respond to rising atmospheric CO2 partial pressures, which has important implications for biogeochemical modeling of future oceans and climate.
Keywords:
Alkalinity, total; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Calcification rate of calcium carbonate per algae cell; Calcite saturation state; Calcium carbonate in cell; Calculated; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon/Nitrogen ratio; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Chromista; Counting; Element analyser, Thermo Finnigan flash EA 1112; Emiliania huxleyi; EPOCA; EUR-OCEANS; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis; European Project on Ocean Acidification; Experimental treatment; Flow cytometry; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Growth/Morphology; Growth rate; Haptophyta; Laboratory experiment; Laboratory strains; North Atlantic; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Particulate organic carbon, per cell; Particulate organic carbon production per cell; Pelagos; pH; Phytoplankton; Potentiometric titration, VINDTA (marianda); Primary production/Photosynthesis; Salinity; Single species; Temperature, water
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 1237 data points
