The O2, pH and Ca2+ microenvironment of benthic foraminifera in a high CO2 world.

ABSTRACT: Ocean acidification (OA) can have adverse effects on marine calcifiers. Yet, phototrophic marine calcifiers elevate their external oxygen and pH microenvironment in daylight, through the uptake of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) by photosynthesis. We studied to which extent pH elevation within their microenvironments in daylight can counteract ambient seawater pH reductions, i.e. OA conditions. We measured the O(2) and pH microenvironment of four photosymbiotic and two symbiont-free benthic tropical foraminiferal species at three different OA treatments (~432, 1141 and 2151 µatm pCO(2)). The O(2) concentration difference between the seawater and the test surface (ΔO(2)) was taken as a measure for the photosynthetic rate. Our results showed that O(2) and pH levels were significantly higher

SUBMITTER: Glas MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3499438 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature