Description: The potential impact of seawater acidification on the concentrations of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), and the activity of the enzyme DMSP-lyase was investigated during a pelagic ecosystem CO2 enrichment experiment (PeECE III) in spring 2005. Natural phytoplankton blooms were studied for 24 days under present, double and triple partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2; pH=8.3, 8.0, 7.8) in triplicate 25 m3 enclosures. The results indicate similar DMSP concentrations and DMSP-lyase activity (DLA) patterns for all treatments. Hence, DMSP and DLA do not seem to have been affected by the CO2 treatment. In contrast, DMS concentrations showed small but statistically significant differences in the temporal development of the low versus the high CO2 treatments. The low pCO2 enclosures had higher DMS concentrations during the first 10 days, after which the levels decreased earlier and more rapidly than in the other treatments. Integrated over the whole study period, DMS concentrations were not significantly different from those of the double and triple pCO2 treatments. Pigment and flow-cytometric data indicate that phytoplanktonic populations were generally similar between the treatments, suggesting a certain resilience of the marine ecosystem under study to the induced pH changes, which is reflected in DMSP and DLA. However, there were significant differences in bacterial community structure and the abundance of one group of viruses infecting nanoeukaryotic algae. The amount of DMS accumulated per total DMSP or chlorophyll-a differed significantly between the present and future scenarios, suggesting that the pathways for DMS production or bacterial DMS consumption were affected by seawater pH. A comparison with previous work (PeECE II) suggests that DMS concentrations do not respond consistently to pelagic ecosystem CO2 enrichment experiments.

Description: The predicted rise in anthropogenic CO2 emissions will increase CO2 concentrations and decrease seawater pH in the upper ocean. Recent studies have revealed effects of pCO2 induced changes in seawater chemistry on a variety of marine life forms, in particular calcifying organisms. To test whether the predicted increase in pCO2 will directly or indirectly (via changes in phytoplankton dynamics) affect abundance, activities, and community composition of heterotrophic bacteria during phytoplankton bloom development, we have aerated mesocosms with CO2 to obtain triplicates with three different partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2): 350 μatm (1×CO2), 700 μatm (2×CO2) and 1050 μatm (3×CO2). The development of a phytoplankton bloom was initiated by the addition of nitrate and phosphate. In accordance to an elevated carbon to nitrogen drawdown at increasing pCO2, bacterial production (BPP) of free-living and attached bacteria as well as cell-specific BPP (csBPP) of attached bacteria were related to the C:N ratio of suspended matter. These relationships significantly differed among treatments. However, bacterial abundance and activities were not statistically different among treatments. Solely community structure of free-living bacteria changed with pCO2 whereas that of attached bacteria seemed to be independent of pCO2 but tightly coupled to phytoplankton bloom development. Our findings imply that changes in pCO2, although reflected by changes in community structure of free-living bacteria, do not directly affect bacterial activity. Furthermore, bacterial activity and dynamics of heterotrophic bacteria, especially of attached bacteria, were tightly correlated to phytoplankton development and, hence, may also potentially depend on changes in pCO2.