Consumers mediate the effects of experimental ocean acidification and warming on primary producers.

ABSTRACT: It is well known that ocean acidification can have profound impacts on marine organisms. However, we know little about the direct and indirect effects of ocean acidification and also how these effects interact with other features of environmental change such as warming and declining consumer pressure. In this study, we tested whether the presence of consumers (invertebrate mesograzers) influenced the interactive effects of ocean acidification and warming on benthic microalgae in a seagrass community mesocosm experiment. Net effects of acidification and warming on benthic microalgal biomass and production, as assessed by analysis of variance, were relatively weak regardless of grazer presence. However, partitioning these net effects into direct and indirect effects using structural equation

SUBMITTER: Alsterberg C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3666745 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature