Resilience of Phytoplankton and Microzooplankton Communities under Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement in the Oligotrophic Ocean

Abstract

Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) is currently discussed as a potential negative emission technology to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide in seawater. Yet, its potential risks or cobenefits for marine ecosystems are still mostly unknown, thus hampering its evaluation for large-scale application. Here, we assessed the impacts OAE may have on plankton communities, focusing on phytoplankton and microzooplankton. In a mesocosm study in the oligotrophic subtropical North Atlantic, we investigated the response of a natural plankton community to CO2-equilibrated OAE across a gradient from ambient alkalinity (2400 μmol kg-1) to double (4800 μmol kg-1). Abundance and biomass of phytoplankton and microzooplankton were insensitive to OAE across all size classes (pico, nano and micro), nutritional modes (autotrophic, mixotrophic and heterotrophic) and taxonomic groups (cyanobacteria, diatoms, haptophytes, dinoflagellates, and ciliates). Consequently, plankton communities under OAE maintained their natural chlorophyll a levels, size structure, taxonomic composition and biodiversity. These findings suggest a high tolerance of phytoplankton and microzooplankton to CO2-equilibrated OAE in the oligotrophic ocean. However, alternative application schemes involving more drastic perturbations in water chemistry and nutrient-rich ecosystems require further investigation. Nevertheless, our study on idealized OAE will help develop an environmentally safe operating space for this climate change mitigation solution.