Adaptation of a globally important coccolithophore to ocean warming and acidification
By Lothar Schlüter, Kai T. Lohbeck, M. Gutowska, J. Gröger, U. Riebesell, Thorsten B. H. Reusch. 2014
230 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Although ocean warming and acidification are recognized as two major anthropogenic perturbations of today’s oceans we know very little about how marine phytoplankton may respond via evolutionary change. We tested for adaptation to ocean warming in combination with ocean acidification in the globally important phytoplankton species Emiliania huxleyi. Temperature adaptation occurred independently of ocean acidification levels. Growth rates were up to 16% higher in populations adapted for one year to warming when assayed at their upper thermal tolerance limit. Particulate inorganic (PIC) and organic (POC) carbon production was restored to values under present-day ocean conditions, owing to adaptive evolution, and were 101% and 55% higher under combined warming and acidification, respectively, than in non-adapted controls. Cells also evolved to a smaller size while they recovered their initial PIC:POC ratio even under elevated CO2. The observed changes in coccolithophore growth, calcite and biomass production, cell size and elemental composition demonstrate the importance of evolutionary processes for phytoplankton performance in a future ocean.
Subfields: Ecology, Oceanography
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c974ed2229759329fae80be74e5c77f36ea03702
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Ecology
In Oceanography
- Thorsten B. H. Reusch
- A. Wood
- Karin Rengefors
- A. Kremp
- Gabriele Procaccini
- Jeanine L. Olsen
- W. G. Hill
- Bruce S. Weir
Citations in the corpus
- Contrasting futures for ocean and society from different anthropogenic CO2 emissions scenarios (2015, unknown): “, (49, 50)], but biogeographical shifts restrict adaptive potential and the small number”
- Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change (2019, unknown): “Rather than producing larger cells, the calcifying phytoplankton species Emiliania huxleyi responds to the combined effects of elevated temperature and elevated CO 2 levels (and associated acidification) by producing smaller cells that contain less carbon 109 .”
- Genetic diversity and evolution in eukaryotic phytoplankton: revelations from population genetic studies (2017, background): “…by showing increased fitness in haploid and diploid clonal phytoplankton populations after multigeneration exposure to climate stressors e.g. warming or ocean acidification (Collins and Bell, 2004; Huertas et al., 2011; Flores-Moya et al., 2012; Lohbeck et al., 2012; Schlüter et al., 2014).”