Ocean acidification decreases plankton respiration: evidence from a mesocosm
experiment

Spilling, Kristian; Paul, Allanah J.; Virkkala, Niklas; Hastings, Tom; Lischka, Silke; Stuhr, Annegret; Bermúdez, Rafael; Czerny, Jan; Boxhammer, Tim; Schulz, Kai G.; Ludwig, Andrea; Riebesell, Ulf

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4707-2016

Articles | Volume 13, issue 16

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4707-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Effects of rising CO₂ on a Baltic Sea plankton...

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4707-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 16

Research article

|

22 Aug 2016

Research article |

| 22 Aug 2016

Ocean acidification decreases plankton respiration: evidence from a mesocosm experiment

Kristian Spilling, Allanah J. Paul, Niklas Virkkala, Tom Hastings, Silke Lischka, Annegret Stuhr, Rafael Bermúdez, Jan Czerny, Tim Boxhammer, Kai G. Schulz, Andrea Ludwig, and Ulf Riebesell

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Final revised paper (published on 22 Aug 2016)
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Preprint (discussion started on 15 Jan 2016)
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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Review of Spilling et al.', Patrick Neale, 25 Feb 2016
RC2: 'Interactive comment on “Ocean acidification decreases plankton respiration: evidence from a mesocosm experiment” Author(s): K. Spilling et al.  MS No.: bg-2015-608', Anonymous Referee #2, 09 Mar 2016
AC1: 'Author response', Kristian Spilling, 09 Apr 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (25 Apr 2016) by C.P.D. Brussaard

AR by Kristian Spilling on behalf of the Authors (07 Jun 2016)

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (09 Jun 2016) by C.P.D. Brussaard

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (30 Jun 2016)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Reviewer comments on MS No.: bg-2015-608

2nd REVISION:
The revised version of the manuscript by Spilling et al. addresses both reviewer’s comments in a satisfactorily manner, except for one point that I still think disserves more attention. Although I consider it a minor change, it shall be properly addressed.

1. Ln480-491. I do not see the rationale of still including discussion on vascular plants, despite of authors arguments in favour of doing it. For most of the phytoplanktonic species, rubisco is less than half-saturated under present CO2 concentrations in seawater and, that is the point, some species have developed ways to increase intracellular CO2 concentrations by using CCMs, possibly having a direct relationship with respiration. I insist, vascular plants behave in a very different manner than phytoplankton due to the particularity of the aquatic environment.

I do not agree with this sentence: “Phytoplankton lacks any specialized structures like root system and may consequently function more like plant foliage”, which seems to be the “excuse” for not having removed the paragraph related to vascular plants. I think that suggesting that “phytoplankton may act as plant foliage” is going a bit too far...

Thus, as I said in my former report, mentioning embryophytes here is out place, when there are very relevant studies done in CCMs in phytoplankton that could have been used to better contextualize this part of the discussion. Remove the mentioned-paragraph, and discuss your data attending to phytoplankton CCMs.
Check the following refs please:

-Badger, M.R., Andrews, T.J., Whitney, S.M., Ludwig, M., Yellowlees, D.C., Leggat, W., and Price, G.D. (1998) The diversity and coevolution of Rubisco, plastids, pyrenoids, and chloroplast-based CO2 -concentrating mechanisms in algae. Can. J. Bot. 76: 1052–1071.

-Beardall, J. and Giordano, M. (2002) Ecological implications of microalgal and cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanisms, and their regulation. Funct. Plant Biol. 29: 335–347.

-Emma Huertas, Brian Colman, and George S. Espie (2002). Mitochondrial-Driven Bicarbonate Transport Supports Photosynthesis in a Marine Microalga . Plant Physiol.130:284-291

-Nimer, N.A., Merrett, M.J., and Brownlee, C. (1996) Inorganic carbon transport in relation to culture age and inorganic carbon concentration in a high-calcifying strain of Emiliania huxleyi (Prymnesiophyceae). J. Phycol. 32: 813.818

-Raven, J.A. (1991) Physiology of inorganic C acquisition and implications for resource use efficiency by marine phytoplankton: relation to increased CO2 and temperature. Plant, Cell Environ. 14: 779–794

-Sültemeyer, D. (1998) Carbonic anhydrase in eukaryotic algae: characterization, regulation, and possible function during photosynthesis. Can. J. Bot. 76: 962–972

2. Supplemental Figure 1S (very minor comment) showing the platforms used for primary production incubations does not read well. The font used to depict the different depths, buoys anchors, sediments traps etc. would do better in bold bigger size font on top of the green colour representing the water column.

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (05 Jul 2016) by C.P.D. Brussaard

AR by Kristian Spilling on behalf of the Authors (27 Jul 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (28 Jul 2016) by C.P.D. Brussaard

AR by Kristian Spilling on behalf of the Authors (29 Jul 2016)

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Short summary

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are reducing the pH in the world's oceans. We determined the plankton community composition and measured primary production, respiration rates and carbon export during an ocean acidification experiment. Our results suggest that increased CO₂ reduced respiration and increased net carbon fixation at high CO₂. This did not, however, translate into higher carbon export, and consequently did not work as a negative feedback mechanism for decreasing pH.