海洋酸化生态学研究进展

工业革命以来,人类排放的大量二氧化碳引起温室效应的同时,也被海洋吸收使得全球海洋出现了严重的酸化。海洋酸化及伴随的海水碳酸盐化学体系的变化对海洋生物产生深远的影响。以海洋酸化对钙化作用和光合作用的影响为重点,总结了近年来关于海洋酸化的研究,介绍了海洋中不同生态系统对海洋酸化的响应。一方面,海水中CO23-浓度和碳酸钙饱和度的降低对海洋钙化生物造成严重损害,生活在高纬的冷水珊瑚和翼足目等文石生产者是最早的受害者;贝类和棘皮动物在钙化早期对海洋酸化尤其敏感,其幼体存活率受到海洋酸化的严重制约。另一方面,CO2浓度的增加能促进海洋植物的光合作用和生长,增加初级生产力,改变浮游植物的群落组成。此外,海洋酸化可以促进固氮和脱氮作用同时削弱硝化作用,改变溶氧浓度分布和金属的生物可利用性,从而对海洋生物产生间接影响。海洋酸化对海洋生态系统的影响机制复杂,影响程度深远。为了能准确的评估海洋酸化的生态学效应,需要更全面深入的研究。

Advances in studies of ecological effects of ocean acidification

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-eighteenth century,the increase in carbon dioxide from humankind′s combined industrial and agricultural activities has elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration from approximately 280 μmol/mol to 390 μmol/mol.The ocean has absorbed about one third of anthropogenic carbon emission,thereby curtailing the growth of CO2 level in the atmosphere.At the same time,however,the absorption of CO2 has caused unprecedented changes to ocean chemistry,lowering seawater pH and carbonate ion concentration and increasing dissolved CO2 and bicarbonate ion concentration.The changes in carbon chemistry are referred to as ocean acidification(OA).The oceanic uptake of CO2 and the concomitant changes in seawater chemistry may benefit algal photosynthesis,but have adverse consequences for many calcifying organisms,and may result in changes in species composition and other ecosystem and biogeochemical processes.In this paper,we present the current status of ocean acidification,and review its effects on marine organisms and ecosystems,with the emphasis on two key biological processes-calcification and photosynthesis. The ability of marine calcifying organisms,including corals,foraminifera and coccolithophores to produce calcareous skeletal structures is directly affected by decreased carbonate saturation state(Ω).When seawater p(CO2) reaches two times of pre-industrial p(CO2),biological calcification productivity will decrease by 20-40%.Most calcifying organisms investigated demonstrate reduced calcification in response to increased p(CO2) and decreased CO2-3 concentration and CaCO3 saturation state(Ωcal) as well as lowered pH.Coral reefs which are the most frequently investigated ecosystem showed reduced growth rate,lower calcification rate,and increased levels of bleaching or necrosis under ocean acidification.Pteropods,foraminifera and coccolithophores are major planktonic producers of CaCO3 and account for nearly all the export flux of CaCO3 from the upper ocean to the deep ocean.Their calcification rates will decrease with decreasing CO2-3 concentration and Ωcal.Benthic invertebrates such as echinoderms like sea urchins and brittlestars will mostly suffer from the deleterious carbonate conditions,especially in their early life stages.Enough evidence suggests that seawater acidification will damage the calcifying organisms,but to what extent calcifying organisms are affected and how they adapt to the changed chemical environment are not adequately addressed. The increase in CO2 availability facilitates photosynthetic carbon fixation of some phytoplankton groups,and the increase in photosynthesis will differ among different species due to the level of carbon concentration mechanism(CCM) and the efficiency of light utilization.The low pH conditions may also change taxonomic composition and uptake ratios of C to other nutrients.Elevated CO2 concentration increases phytoplankton C ∶N ratio which may take excess carbon,thereby buffering OA in the surface ocean.However,calcifying algae show contradictory evidence of either an increase or decrease in calcification and photosynthesis. CO2 in the atmosphere is projected to double in 50 years and to triple by the end of the century if the current CO2 emission continues at the present level.The ocean will become more acidic as pH was projected to drop by 0.1 and 0.3 units,respectively.Ocean acidification may also alter ocean biogeochemical cycle,community composition and ecosystem stability directly or indirectly.