Ocean acidification changes the structure of an Antarctic coastal protistan community

Hancock, Alyce M.; Davidson, Andrew T.; McKinlay, John; McMinn, Andrew; Schulz, Kai G.; van den Enden, Rick L.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2393-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2393-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

The Ocean in a High-CO₂ World IV

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2393-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 8

Research article

|

20 Apr 2018

Research article |

| 20 Apr 2018

Ocean acidification changes the structure of an Antarctic coastal protistan community

Alyce M. Hancock, Andrew T. Davidson, John McKinlay, Andrew McMinn, Kai G. Schulz, and Rick L. van den Enden

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2393-2018-supplement

Data sets

Ocean acidification changes the structure of an Antarctic coastal protistan community A. M. Hancock, A. T. Davidson, J. McKinlay, A. McMinn, K. Schulz, and D. van den Enden https://doi.org/10.4225/15/592b83a5c7506

Environmental data for Davis 14/15 ocean acidification minicosm experiment S. L. Deppeler, A. T. Davidson, and K. Schulz https://doi.org/10.4225/15/599a7dfe9470

Model code and software

Ocean acidification changes the structure of an Antarctic coastal protistan community A. M. Hancock, A. T. Davidson, J. McKinlay, A. McMinn, K. Schulz, and D. van den Enden https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4026_Microscopy_Multivariate_Statistics_Rcode

Short summary

Absorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) realized by humans is decreasing the ocean pH (ocean acidification). Single-celled organisms (microbes) support the Antarctic ecosystem, yet little is known about their sensitivity to ocean acidification. This study shows a shift in a natural Antarctic microbial community, with CO₂ levels exceeding 634 μatm changing the community composition and favouring small cells. This would have significant flow effects for Antarctic food webs and elemental cycles.