Description: Marine bacteria are the main consumers of freshly produced organic matter. Many enzymatic processes involved in the bacterial digestion of organic compounds were shown to be pH sensitive in previous studies. Due to the continuous rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration, seawater pH is presently decreasing at a rate unprecedented during the last 300 million years but the consequences for microbial physiology, organic matter cycling and marine biogeochemistry are still unresolved. We studied the effects of elevated seawater pCO2 on a natural plankton community during a large-scale mesocosm study in a Norwegian fjord. Nine Kiel Off-Shore Mesocosms for Future Ocean Simulations (KOSMOS) were adjusted to different pCO2 levels ranging initially from ca. 280 to 3000 µatm and sampled every second day for 34 days. The first phytoplankton bloom developed around day 5. On day 14, inorganic nutrients were added to the enclosed, nutrient-poor waters to stimulate a second phytoplankton bloom, which occurred around day 20. Our results indicate that marine bacteria benefit directly and indirectly from decreasing seawater pH. During the first phytoplankton bloom, 5-10% more transparent exopolymer particles were formed in the high pCO2 mesocosms. Simultaneously, the efficiency of the protein-degrading enzyme leucine aminopeptidase increased with decreasing pH resulting in up to three times higher values in the highest pCO2/lowest pH mesocosm compared to the controls. In general, total and cell-specific aminopeptidase activities were elevated under low pH conditions. The combination of enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of organic matter and increased availability of gel particles as substrate supported up to 28% higher bacterial abundance in the high pCO2 treatments. We conclude that ocean acidification has the potential to stimulate the bacterial community and facilitate the microbial recycling of freshly produced organic matter, thus strengthening the role of the microbial loop in the surface ocean.

Description: Diatoms, large bloom-forming marine microorganisms, build frustules out of silicate, which ballasts the cells and aids their export to the deep ocean. This unique physiology forges an important link between the marine silicon and carbon cycles. However, the effect of ocean acidification on the silicification of diatoms is unclear. Here we show that diatom silicification strongly diminishes with increased acidity in a natural Antarctic community. Analyses of single cells from within the community reveal that the effect of reduced pH on silicification differs among taxa, with several species having significantly reduced silica incorporation at CO2 levels equivalent to those projected for 2100. These findings suggest that, before the end of this century, ocean acidification may influence the carbon and silicon cycle by both altering the composition of the diatom assemblages and reducing cell ballasting, which will probably alter vertical flux of these elements to the deep ocean.

Description: This data is part of the BMBF project CUSCO (Coastal Upwelling Systems in a Changing Ocean). Here we report the dissolved inorganic carbon concentration and total alkalinity during a 35-day experiment, where we enclosed natural plankton communities in in-situ mesocosms off Peru. The experiment investigated the interactive effects of light and upwelling on the Humboldt upwelling ecosystem by mimicking a gradient of upwelling intensities (0%, 15%, 30%, 45% and 60%) under summer-time high light and winter-time low light. Integrated seawater samples from a depth between 0 and 10m were collected using a 5L Integrating Water sampler (IWS; Hydro-Bios, Kiel). Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) samples were obtained by 0.2µm gentle pressure filtration, poisoned with saturated 7.5 % mercury chloride (HgCl2) solution and frozen at -20°C until measurement. Samples for Total Alkalinity (TA) were measured by means of potentiometric titration with 0.05 M HCl using an automated titration device (862 Metrohm Compact Titrosampler). All DIC samples taken until day 17 were measured using an Automated Infra-Red Inorganic Carbon Analyzer (AIRICA) with a LICOR detector (LI-7000 CO2/H20 Analyzer, MARIANDA, Kiel). Certified reference material (Dickson standard for oceanic CO2 Measurements - CRM Batch 142 with salinity = 33.389 and DIC = 2038,07 µmol/kg) was measured and used to correct measured sample values. Additional DIC samples were measured using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the 13C signal. The data of the GC-MS was adjusted to the AIRICA data using a linear transformation. Missing days were filled using an average of the day before and after.