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Title: Marine phytoplankton resilience may moderate oligotrophic ecosystem responses and biogeochemical feedbacks to climate change

Journal Article · · Limnology and Oceanography
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12029 · OSTI ID:1976355
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [2];  [9];  [10];  [11]; ORCiD logo [10]; ORCiD logo
  1. University of California, Irvine, CA (United States); OSTI
  2. Princeton University, NJ (United States)
  3. University of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  4. University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
  5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  6. University of California, Irvine, CA (United States); University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
  7. McGill University, Montreal, QC (Canada)
  8. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
  9. Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME (United States)
  10. University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
  11. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Are the oceans turning into deserts? Rising temperature, increasing surface stratification, and decreasing vertical inputs of nutrients are expected to cause an expansion of warm, nutrient deplete ecosystems. Such an expansion is predicted to negatively affect a trio of key ocean biogeochemical features: phytoplankton biomass, primary productivity, and carbon export. However, phytoplankton communities are complex adaptive systems with immense diversity that could render them at least partially resilient to global changes. This can be illustrated by the biology of the Prochlorococcus “collective.” Adaptations to counter stress, use of alternative nutrient sources, and frugal resource allocation can allow Prochlorococcus to buffer climate-driven changes in nutrient availability. In contrast, cell physiology is more sensitive to temperature changes. We argue that biogeochemical models need to consider the adaptive potential of diverse phytoplankton communities. However, a full understanding of phytoplankton resilience to future ocean changes is hampered by a lack of global biogeographic observations to test theories. We propose that the resilience may in fact be greater in oligotrophic waters than currently considered with implications for future predictions of phytoplankton biomass, primary productivity, and carbon export.

Research Organization:
University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); Simons Foundation; US Department of Commerce
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016329
OSTI ID:
1976355
Journal Information:
Limnology and Oceanography, Journal Name: Limnology and Oceanography Journal Issue: S1 Vol. 67; ISSN 0024-3590
Publisher:
Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography - WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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