Influence of increasing dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations and decreasing pH on chemolithoautrophic bacteria from oxic-sulfidic interfaces

Abstract. Increases in the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentration are expected to cause a decrease in the pH of ocean waters, a process known as ocean acidification. In oxygen-deficient zones this will add to already increased DIC and decreased pH values. It is not known how this might affect microbial communities and microbially mediated processes. In this study, the potential effects of ocean acidification on chemolithoautotrophic prokaryotes of marine oxic-anoxic transition zones were investigated, using the chemoautotrophic denitrifying ε-proteobacterium "Sulfurimonas gotlandica" strain GD1 as a model organism. This and related taxa use reduced sulfur compounds, e.g. sulfide and thiosulfate, as electron donors and were previously shown to be responsible for nitrate removal and sulfide detoxification in redox zones of the Baltic Sea water column but occur also in other oxygen-deficient marine systems. Bacterial cell growth within a broad range of DIC concentrations and pH values was monitored and substrate utilization was determined. The results showed that the DIC saturation concentration for growth was already reached at 800 μM, which is well below in situ DIC levels. The pH optimum was between 6.6 and 8.0. Within a pH range of 6.6–7.1 there was no significant difference in substrate utilization; however, at lower pH values cell growth decreased sharply and cell-specific substrate consumption increased. These findings suggest that a direct effect of ocean acidification, with the predicted changes in pH and DIC, on chemolithoautotrophic bacteria such as "S. gotlandica" str. GD1 is generally not very probable.