Acidification decreases microbial community diversity in the Salish Sea, a region with naturally high pCO2.

ABSTRACT: Most literature exploring the biological effects of ocean acidification (OA) has focused on macroscopic organisms and far less is known about how marine microbial communities will respond. Studies of OA and microbial community composition and diversity have examined communities from a limited number of ocean regions where the ambient pH is near or above the global average. At San Juan Island (Salish Sea), a region that experiences naturally low pH (average = 7.8), the picoplankton (cell diameter is 0.2-2μm) community was predicted to show no response to experimental acidification in a three-week mesocosm experiment. Filtered seawater mesocosms were maintained via semicontinuous culturing. Three control mesocosms were maintained at pH 8.05 and three acidified mesocosms were maintained at pH

SUBMITTER: Crummett LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7592811 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature