Effects of long-term high CO2 exposure on two species of coccolithophores

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Abstract

The physiological performance of two coccolithophore species, Emiliania huxleyi and Coccolithus braarudii, was investigated during long-term exposure to elevated pCO2 levels. Mono-specific cultures were grown over 152 (E. huxleyi) and 65 (C. braarudii) generations while pCO2 was gradually increased to maximum levels of 1150 μatm (E. huxleyi) and 930 μatm (C. braarudii) and kept constant thereafter. Rates of cell growth and cell quotas of particulate organic carbon (POC), particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) and total particulate nitrogen (TPN) were determined repeatedly throughout the incubation period. Increasing pCO2 caused a decrease in cell growth rate of 9% and 29% in E. huxleyi and C. braarudii, respectively. In both species cellular PIC:TPN and PIC:POC ratios decreased in response to rising pCO2, whereas no change was observed in the POC:TPN ratios of E. huxleyi and C. braarudii. These results are consistent with those obtained in shorter-term high CO2 exposure experiments following abrupt pertubations of the seawater carbonate system and indicate that for the strains tested here a gradual CO2 increase does not alleviate CO2/pH sensitivity.

Figures

  • Fig. 1. Cell ratios over the hours of daily illumination of E. huxleyi (circle) and C. braarudii (triangle) under low pCO2 (open symbols) and high pCO2 (closed symbols) from all data points collected during the experiment. (A) PIC:POC ratio (molC:molC). (B) PIC:TPN ratio (molC:molN). (C) POC:TPN ratio (molC:molN).
  • Fig. 2. Physiological responses of Emiliania huxleyi to elevated pCO2 over the course of the experiment (open and closed symbols represent the low pCO2 and high pCO2 treatments, respectively). (A) pCO2 (circles, µatm) and pH (triangle) over experimental time. (B) growth rate (d−1). (C) PIC:TPN (molC:molN). (D) POC:TPN (molC:molN). (E) PIC:POC (molC:molC).
  • Fig. 3Fig. 3. Physiological responses of Coccolithus braarudii to elevated pCO2 over the course of the experiment. Labels and symbols as in Fig. 2.
  • Fig. 4Fig. 4. Representative SEM photographs of the two coccolithophore species. Cells of E. huxleyi grown in the control treatment (A) and under high pCO2 at day 73 (B). Cells of C. braarudii grown in the control treatment (C) and under high pCO2 at day 66 (D).
  • Fig. 5Fig. 5. Particulate carbon to nitrogen ratios of E. huxleyi as a function of pCO2 (µatm) at a 24:0 light:dark cycle under various light intensities: 15 (triangle), 30 (square), 80 (circle) and 150 µmol photons m−2 s−1 (diamond). Open symbols represent data from Zondervan et al. (2002) (error bars represent 1 SD, n= 3) and closed symbols indicate mean values of the present study with according standard deviations. (A) PIC:TPN (molC:molN). (B) POC:TPN (molC:molN).

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Müller, M. N., Schulz, K. G., & Riebesell, U. (2010). Effects of long-term high CO2 exposure on two species of coccolithophores. Biogeosciences, 7(3), 1109–1116. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-7-1109-2010

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