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Effects of Increased Pco2 and Temperature on the North Atlantic Spring Bloom University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Papers in Plant Pathology Plant Pathology Department 2009 Effects of increased pCO2 and temperature on the North Atlantic spring bloom. III. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Peter A. Lee College of Charleston, [email protected] Jamie R. Rudisill College of Charleston Aimee R. Neeley College of Charleston Jennifer M. Maucher NOAA David A. Hutchins University of Southern California See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/plantpathpapers Part of the Other Plant Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, and the Plant Pathology Commons Lee, Peter A.; Rudisill, Jamie R.; Neeley, Aimee R.; Maucher, Jennifer M.; Hutchins, David A.; Feng, Yuanyuan; Hare, Clinton E.; Leblanc, Karine; Rose, Julie M.; Wilhelm, Steven W.; Rowe, Janet M.; and DiTullio, Giacomo R., "Effects of increased pCO2 and temperature on the North Atlantic spring bloom. III. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate" (2009). Papers in Plant Pathology. 589. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/plantpathpapers/589 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant Pathology Department at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Papers in Plant Pathology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Authors Peter A. Lee, Jamie R. Rudisill, Aimee R. Neeley, Jennifer M. Maucher, David A. Hutchins, Yuanyuan Feng, Clinton E. Hare, Karine Leblanc, Julie M. Rose, Steven W. Wilhelm, Janet M. Rowe, and Giacomo R. DiTullio This article is available at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ plantpathpapers/589 Vol. 388: 41–49, 2009 MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES Published August 19 doi: 10.3354/meps08135 Mar Ecol Prog Ser Effects of increased pCO2 and temperature on the North Atlantic spring bloom. III. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Peter A. Lee1,*, Jamie R. Rudisill1, Aimee R. Neeley1, 7, Jennifer M. Maucher2, David A. Hutchins3, 8, Yuanyuan Feng3, 8, Clinton E. Hare3, Karine Leblanc3, 9,10, Julie M. Rose3,11, Steven W. Wilhelm4, Janet M. Rowe4, 5, Giacomo R. DiTullio1, 6 1Hollings Marine Laboratory, College of Charleston, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, South Carolina 29412, USA 2Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 219 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, South Carolina 29412, USA 3College of Marine and Earth Studies, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes, Delaware 19958, USA 4Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, 1414 West Cumberland Ave, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA 5Department of Plant Pathology, The University of Nebraska, 205 Morrison Center, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA 6Grice Marine Laboratory, College of Charleston, 205 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, South Carolina 29412, USA 7Present address: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Calibration and Validation Office, 1450 S. Rolling Road, Suite 4.111, Halethorpe, Maryland 21227, USA 8Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, 3616 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA 9Present address: Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LOB-UMR 6535, Laboratoire d’Océanographie et de Biogéochimie, OSU/Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France 10Present address: CNRS (CNRS/INSU), UMR 6535, Campus de Luminy, Case 901, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France 11Present address: Biology Department, MS #32, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA ABSTRACT: The CLAW hypothesis argues that a negative feedback mechanism involving phytoplank- ton-derived dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) could mitigate increasing sea surface temperatures that result from global warming. DMSP is converted to the climatically active dimethylsulfide (DMS), which is transferred to the atmosphere and photochemically oxidized to sulfate aerosols, leading to increases in planetary albedo and cooling of the Earth’s atmosphere. A shipboard incubation experiment was con- ducted to investigate the effects of increased temperature and pCO2 on the algal community structure of the North Atlantic spring bloom and their subsequent impact on particulate and dissolved DMSP con- centrations (DMSPp and DMSPd). Under ‘greenhouse’ conditions (elevated pCO2; 690 ppm) and elevated temperature (ambient + 4°C), coccolithophorid and pelagophyte abundances were significantly higher than under control conditions (390 ppm CO2 and ambient temperature). This shift in phytoplankton com- munity structure also resulted in an increase in DMSPp concentrations and DMSPp:chl a ratios. There were also increases in DMSP-lyase activity and biomass-normalized DMSP-lyase activity under ‘green- house’ conditions. Concentrations of DMSPd decreased in the ‘greenhouse’ treatment relative to the con- trol. This decline is thought to be partly due to changes in the microzooplankton community structure and decreased grazing pressure under ‘greenhouse’ conditions. The increases in DMSPp in the high tem- perature and greenhouse treatments support the CLAW hypothesis; the declines in DMSPd do not. KEY WORDS: Particulate DMSP · Dissolved DMSP · Climate change · Global warming · Carbon dioxide · Temperature · Biogeochemistry Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher INTRODUCTION mitigated through a feedback mechanism involving phytoplankton, the climatically active compound di- The CLAW hypothesis (Charlson et al. 1987) postu- methylsulfide (DMS) and planetary albedo. In essence, lates that changes in the Earth’s radiation budget and the CLAW hypothesis proposes that higher sea surface any subsequent changes in oceanic conditions will be temperatures (SST) will result in an enhanced DMS *Email: [email protected] © Inter-Research 2009 · www.int-res.com 42 Mar Ecol Prog Ser 388: 41–49, 2009 flux to the atmosphere, presumably due to an in- to conclude that the system had ‘a certain resilience’ to creased production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate changing pCO2. These authors also reported that tem- (DMSP), the precursor to DMS, by phytoplankton. Ac- poral differences in DMS levels were observed, but cording to the CLAW hypothesis, this DMSP increase concluded that they were not statistically significant. could occur either through an increase in phytoplank- The overarching objective of the North Atlantic ton biomass or a shift in community structure towards spring bloom (NASB) expedition in 2005 was to inves- DMSP-producing species. It is assumed that any tigate the impact of predicted increases in SST and increases in DMSP concentrations will lead to in- pCO2 on the algal community structure and biogeo- creases in the highly volatile DMS. Enhanced vertical chemistry of the NASB, one of the most predictable mixing rates (i.e. stronger winds), or decreased micro- and geographically extensive oceanic phytoplankton bial DMS consumption, however, could also increase blooms (Sverdrup 1953, Lewis 1989, Savidge & sea-to-air DMS fluxes without a concomitant rise in Williams 2001). The area of the North Atlantic Ocean DMSP production (Simó & Pedrós-Alió 1999). Once in encompassed by the NASB is known to be an impor- the atmosphere, DMS would be rapidly oxidized to sul- tant source of DMS as result of the presence of small fur dioxide, with a subsequent increase in the forma- prymnesiophytes, such as the coccolithophorid Emilia- tion of sulfate aerosols, which are a significant source nia huxleyi (Sieracki et al. 1993, Simó et al. 2002, of cloud condensation nuclei in remote marine envi- Steinke et al. 2002). The presence of these calcifying ronments (Ayers & Cainey 2007). Consequently, cloud phytoplankton species also makes this region a critical coverage and ultimately planetary albedo would sink for anthropogenic CO2 (Sabine et al. 2004). How- increase, thereby altering the Earth’s radiation budget ever, despite numerous intensive studies (Ducklow & and providing a negative feedback mechanism for the Harris 1993, Sieracki et al. 1993, Savidge & Williams regulation of planetary climate (Vallina & Simó 2007). 2001), little is known about how this ecosystem will Global models predict that by the end of this century respond to the effects of climate change. Using a ship- concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO2) board incubation system (Hutchins et al. 2003), sea- will have risen from current levels of 380 to >700 ppm water samples were manipulated to mimic SST and (IPCC 2007). These changes in atmospheric CO2 will pCO2 levels predicted for high-latitude oceanic also impact the world’s oceans with anticipated in- regimes by the year 2100 (IPCC 2007). creases in SST of 1 to 4°C, decreases in ocean pH of 0.3 This article is the third in a series of 3 companion units, and major impacts on upper-ocean stratification papers that detail the findings made during the incu- (Sarmiento et al. 1998, Wolf-Gladrow et al. 1999, IPCC bation experiment and focuses on the changes in 2007). Furthermore, such changes will have dramatic DMSP concentrations and DLA that result from effects on marine phytoplankton communities, in terms changes in algal community composition. The lead of both the cellular physiology of individual species and article (Feng et al. 2009, this volume) describes the the taxonomic composition of the communities (Boyd & impact of increasing temperature
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