Scaling up experimental ocean acidification and warming research: from individuals to the ecosystem

Understanding long‐term, ecosystem‐level impacts of climate change is challenging because experimental research frequently focuses on short‐term, individual‐level impacts in isolation. We address this shortcoming first through an interdisciplinary ensemble of novel experimental techniques to investigate the impacts of 14‐month exposure to ocean acidification and warming (OAW) on the physiology, activity, predatory behaviour and susceptibility to predation of an important marine gastropod (Nucella lapillus). We simultaneously estimated the potential impacts of these global drivers on N. lapillus population dynamics and dispersal parameters. We then used these data to parameterize a dynamic bioclimatic envelope model, to investigate the consequences of OAW on the distribution of the species in the wider NE Atlantic region by 2100. The model accounts also for changes in the distribution of resources, suitable habitat and environment simulated by finely resolved biogeochemical models, under three IPCC global emissions scenarios. The experiments showed that temperature had the greatest impact on individual‐level responses, while acidification had a similarly important role in the mediation of predatory behaviour and susceptibility to predators. Changes in Nucella predatory behaviour appeared to serve as a strategy to mitigate individual‐level impacts of acidification, but the development of this response may be limited in the presence of predators. The model projected significant large‐scale changes in the distribution of Nucella by the year 2100 that were exacerbated by rising greenhouse gas emissions. These changes were spatially heterogeneous, as the degree of impact of OAW on the combination of responses considered by the model varied depending on local‐environmental conditions and resource availability. Such changes in macro‐scale distributions cannot be predicted by investigating individual‐level impacts in isolation, or by considering climate stressors separately. Scaling up the results of experimental climate change research requires approaches that account for long‐term, multiscale responses to multiple stressors, in an ecosystem context.     

木质素在海洋中的生物转化及其对海洋碳循环的影响

微型生物参与的海洋碳汇是海洋重要的储碳途径,可调节全球气候变化。木质素是地球上第二大光合而成的碳库,其在海洋中的生物地球化学过程与海洋碳循环密切相关。异养微生物所主导的代谢活动是木质素生物转化的主要途径。近年来,迅速发展的高通量测序技术与传统微生物技术相结合,在探索自然生境中木质素代谢菌群,发现木质素代谢新物种,挖掘相关功能基因等方面已取得一系列成果。然而绝大多数的研究主要集中于陆地生态系统,对于海洋生态系统的研究仍较少。陆源有机碳在海洋中的转化过程仍是一个"谜",故解析海洋木质素碳转化是海洋碳循环研究的重要任务。本文综述了参与海洋木质素转化的功能微生物、木质素代谢机理以及微生物碳代谢活动与海洋碳汇过程的内在联系,为今后的研究提供参考。     

Adaptive microevolutionary responses to simulated global warming in Simocephalus vetulus: a mesocosm study

Although several studies suggest the occurrence of microevolutionary responses that may allow local persistence of populations under global warming, rigorous experimental proof is lacking. Here, we combined the realism and rigid, replicated experimental design of a large‐scale mesocosm study where populations of the zooplankter Simocephalus vetulus were exposed for 1 year to different global warming scenarios with a life table experiment under laboratory conditions at three temperatures that eliminated confounding, nongenetic factors. Our results provide solid proof for a rapid microevolutionary response to global warming in both survival and the subcomponents of individual performance (age at reproduction and number of offspring), which may allow populations of S. vetulus to persist locally under predicted scenarios of global warming. Such microevolutionary responses may buffer changes in community structure under global warming and help explain the outcome of previous mesocosm studies finding only marginal effects of global warming at the community level.     

Oxygen depletion induced by adding whey to an enclosure in an acidic mine pit lake

Neutralization of acidic mine pit lakes by biotechnological means results in the production of labile metal-sulfides. These reaction products can theoretically be stored sustainably in the lake, provided reducing conditions are maintained at the lake bottom. In a field mesocosm experiment, we tested, if reducing conditions can be maintained in an acidic mine pit lake by the addition of a complex organic substrate.An enclosure of 30 m diameter was covered by a floating foil, and whey was repeatedly added to the water column to stimulate microbial respiration. A suspension of whey was successfully mixed into the enclosure by means of a boat motor. Whey was completely dissolved and subsequently consumed by microbial respiration in the water column. This resulted in oxygen consumption leading to anoxic conditions. About 10 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹ oxygen permanently entered the enclosure from the atmosphere, while a minor amount of oxygen was produced by primary production. By careful monitoring and repeated additions, it was possible to keep the bottom of the enclosure permanently anoxic, even during mixing periods in autumn and spring. Fe³⁺, however, was not reduced significantly. A laboratory experiment revealed that microbial iron reduction was inhibited by both low concentrations of organic substrates and low temperature. Since Fe^III is a potential oxidizing agent, it is questionable, if the stability of metal-sulfides in acidic mine pit lakes can be increased by the addition of complex organic substrates.     

Daphnia in tadpole mesocosms: trophic links and interactions with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

1. Amphibians are in decline, and the disease chytridiomycosis, caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has been repeatedly implicated throughout the world. This chytrid reproduces via an infectious, motile zoospore stage that remains viable for weeks in the water column. 2. Daphnia is a keystone zooplankton grazer in intact freshwater ecosystems, whose importance to amphibians may be overlooked. As an efficient grazer, Daphnia can suppress chytrid epidemics by consuming zoospores and may therefore play a role in Bd infection dynamics. Daphnia may also have important effects on tadpoles by mediating the properties of pond food webs. We tested the role of Daphnia in outdoor mesocosms containing the tadpoles of red‐legged frogs (Rana aurora) infected with Bd. We also tested the ability of Daphnia to filter Bd from the water column in laboratory microcosms. 3. In the water of microcosms, Daphnia dramatically decreased the number of Bd genomic equivalents detectable using quantitative PCR. Bd genomic equivalents fell below the limit of detection at very high (>1 Daphnia mL^?1) Daphnia densities. 4. In mesocosms, Daphnia was critical to the development of tadpoles: in the presence of Daphnia, tadpoles were twofold heavier at metamorphosis than in their absence. Daphnia and Bd interacted to affect the tadpole survival: survival was highest in the presence of Daphnia and in the absence of Bd. We were unable to detect an effect of Daphnia on the transmission of Bd in mesocosms. However, Bd transmission among the tadpoles in mesocosms was unexpectedly low, limiting our power to detect an effect of Daphnia on transmission. 5. Tadpole dissection showed that tadpoles also consumed large numbers of Daphnia. Current models of mesocosm food webs that assume no predation by tadpoles on zooplankton therefore probably overlook important features of both natural and experimental systems.     

Potential Effects of Elevated Sea-Water Temperature on Pelagic Food Webs

The effect of temperature changes on the marine pelagic food web was studied in three successive mesocosm experiments, performed during the spring bloom 2001 in the northern Baltic Sea. The temperature was varied from 5 to 20 °C in each experiment, running over a 3-week period. The experiments included food webs of at least four trophic levels: (1) phytoplankton-bacteria, (2) flagellates, (3) ciliates and (4) metazooplankton. The results showed that heterotrophic to autotrophic biomass ratio (H/A) increased 5 times when temperature was raised from 5 to 10 °C. In agreement, the carbon fixation to respiration ratio indicated a decrease of six times over the same temperature range. Furthermore, the sedimentation decreased by 45% when the temperature was elevated from 5 to 10 °C, probably as a consequence of the increased respiration losses and bacterial biodegradation of settling material. Analyzed parameters, thus, indicated that the degree of heterotrophy increased in the temperature interval of 5–10 °C. Above 10 °C, the analyzed parameters in general were more stable. Our results indicate that moderately elevated seawater temperatures, due to climate change or weather alterations, may affect the entire ecosystem function in temperate sea areas by altering the balance between autotrophy and heterotrophy.     

Algal-periphyton population and community changes from zinc stress in stream mesocosms

Three treatments of zinc (0.05, 0.5, 1.0 mg Zn l⁻¹) and a control could be identified by different algal communities in outdoor, flow-through, stream mesocosms. Established communities were continuously exposed to Zn, and samples were collected on days 0, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 30 after treatment began. Experiments were conducted in spring, summer, and fall 1984. Control stream mesocosms could be identified by diatoms in all seasons. The 0.05 mg Zn l⁻¹ treatment could be identified by certain diatom taxa being more abundant than in the control in all seasons and by a filamentous green alga in summer and fall. The 0.5 mg Zn l⁻¹ treatment could be identified by a filamentous green alga in fall. The 1.0 mg Zn l⁻¹ treatment was dominated by unicellular green algae in all seasons and by a filamentous blue-green alga in summer. A similarity index (SIMI) indicated that Zn-stressed samples generally became less similar to control samples as Zn concentration increased from 0.05 to 1.0 mg Zn l⁻¹. Total biovolume-density of all taxa responded slower than individual taxa in spring and failed to distinguish between Zn treatments in summer and fall. Zinc bound to periphyton was much better than total Zn in water for identifying Zn treatments. Zinc treatments as low as 0.05 mg Zn l⁻¹ changed algal species composition despite 0.047 mg Zn l⁻¹ being the Criterion of the US Environmental Protection Agency for the 24-h average of total recoverable Zn.     

The scientific basis of bioassays

The ultimate goal of ecotoxicological testing is to predict ecological effects of chemicals and other stressors. Since damage should be avoided rather than corrected after it occurs, the predictive value of such tests is crucial. A modest base of evidence shows that, in some cases, extrapolations from bioassays on one species to another species are reasonably accurate and, in other cases, misleading. Extrapolations from laboratory bioassays to response in natural systems at the population level are effective if the environmental realism of the bioassay is sufficiently high. When laboratory systems are poor simulations of natural systems, gross extrapolation errors may result. The problem of extrapolating among levels of biological organization has not been given the serious attention it deserves, and currently used methodologies have been chosen for reasons other than scientific validity. As the level of biological organization increases, new properties are added (e.g., nutrient cycling, energy transfer) that are not readily apparent at the lower levels. The measured responses (or end points) will not be the same at all levels of biological organization, making the validation of predictions difficult. Evidence indicates that responses of ecologically complex laboratory systems correspond to predicted and documented patterns in stressed ecosystems. The difficulties of improving the ecological evidence used to predict adverse effects are not insurmountable since the essence of predictive capability is the determination of effects thresholds at all levels of organization. The dilemma between basing predictive schemes on either traditional or holistic methods can only be solved by facing scientific and ethical questions regarding the adequacy of evidence used to make decisions of environmental protection.     

An introduction to the biogeochemical cycling of calcium and substitutive strontium in living coral reef mesocosms

The coral reef mesocosms designed by the Smithsonian Institution's Dr. Walter Adey, his Marine System Laboratory personnel, and staff members of the Pittsburgh Aqua-Zoo simulate most of the physical, chemical, and biological parameters found in natural Caribbean coral reefs. After developing the mesocosm in Pittsburgh, an evaluation and comparison between natural reef seawater sources and closed mesocosm seawater conditions indicated that an additional parameter should be investigated. It was hypothesized that, given time, the aragonite- and calcite (CaCO₃ crystal forms)-producing organisms in the closed mesocosms could deplete the seawater of available Ca²⁺ and substitutive Sr²⁺. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry was utilized to determine concentrations in the seawater over time. Results showed a substantial reduction in dissolved Ca and Sr in the mesocosm after approximately two years. Dissolved aragonitic Halimeda algae parts were put into the system for replacive purposes. In terms of the biogeochemical cycling of Ca²⁺ and Sr²⁺, the coral reef mesocosm organisms behaved similarly to natural reefs, which have a constant supply of dissolved Ca²⁺ and Sr²⁺. Further research utilizing radiolabeled sources of Ca²⁺, Sr²⁺, and Mg²⁺, in conjunction with in vivo scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and growth increment studies, are recommended for determining the exact biogeochemical pathways for these elements in coral reefs, and to quantify growth parameters. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Self-decontaminating photocatalytic zinc oxide nanorod coatings for prevention of marine microfouling: a mesocosm study

The antifouling (AF) properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod coated glass substrata were investigated in an out-door mesocosm experiment under natural sunlight (14:10 light: dark photoperiod) over a period of five days. The total bacterial density (a six-fold reduction) and viability (a three-fold reduction) was significantly reduced by nanocoatings in the presence of sunlight. In the absence of sunlight, coated and control substrata were colonized equally by bacteria. MiSeq Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed distinct bacterial communities on the nanocoated and control substrata in the presence and absence of light. Diatom communities also varied on nanocoated substrata in the presence and the absence of light. The observed AF activity of the ZnO nanocoatings is attributed to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through photocatalysis in the presence of sunlight. These nanocoatings are a significant step towards the production of an environmentally friendly AF coating that utilizes a sustainable supply of sunlight.