Ocean acidification with (de)eutrophication will alter future phytoplankton growth and succession.

ABSTRACT: Human activity causes ocean acidification (OA) though the dissolution of anthropogenically generated CO2 into seawater, and eutrophication through the addition of inorganic nutrients. Eutrophication increases the phytoplankton biomass that can be supported during a bloom, and the resultant uptake of dissolved inorganic carbon during photosynthesis increases water-column pH (bloom-induced basification). This increased pH can adversely affect plankton growth. With OA, basification commences at a lower pH. Using experimental analyses of the growth of three contrasting phytoplankton under different pH scenarios, coupled with mathematical models describing growth and death as functions of pH and nutrient status, we show how different conditions of pH modify the scope for competitive interaction

SUBMITTER: Flynn KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4375859 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature