Supplementary material to "Effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on phytoplankton community biomass, species composition and photosynthesis during an autumn bloom in the Western English Channel"

Abstract. The combined effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature were investigated during an autumn phytoplankton bloom in the Western English Channel (WEC). A full factorial 36-day microcosm experiment was conducted under year 2100 predicted temperature (+4.5 °C) and pCO2 levels (800 μatm). The starting phytoplankton community biomass was 110.2 (±5.7 sd) mg carbon (C) m−3 and was dominated by dinoflagellates (~ 50 %) with smaller contributions from nanophytoplankton (~ 13 %), cryptophytes (~ 11 %)and diatoms (~ 9 %). Over the experimental period total biomass was significantly increased by elevated pCO2 (20-fold increase) and elevated temperature (15-fold increase). In contrast, the combined influence of these two factors had little effect on biomass relative to the ambient control. The phytoplankton community structure shifted from dinoflagellates to nanophytoplankton at the end of the experiment in all treatments. Under elevated pCO2 nanophytoplankton contributed 90% of community biomass and was dominated by Phaeocystis spp., while under elevated temperature nanophytoplankton contributed 85 % of the community biomass and was dominated by smaller nano-flagellates. Under ambient conditions larger nano-flagellates dominated while the smallest nanophytoplankton contribution was observed under combined elevated pCO2 and temperature (~ 40 %). Dinoflagellate biomass declined significantly under the individual influences of elevated pCO2, temperature and ambient conditions. Under the combined effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature, dinoflagellate biomass almost doubled from the starting biomass and there was a 30-fold increase in the harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, Prorocentrum cordatum. Chlorophyll a normalised maximum photosynthetic rates (PBm) increased > 6-fold under elevated pCO2 and > 3-fold under elevated temperature while no effect on PBm was observed when pCO2 and temperature were elevated simultaneously. The results suggest that future increases in temperature and pCO2 do not appear to influence coastal phytoplankton productivity during autumn in the WEC which would have a negative feedback on atmospheric CO2.

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Effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on phytoplankton community biomass, species composition and photosynthesis during an experimentally induced autumn bloom in the western English Channel

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-15-3203-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (10) ◽

pp. 3203-3222 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Matthew Keys ◽

Gavin Tilstone ◽

Helen S. Findlay ◽

Claire E. Widdicombe ◽

Tracy Lawson

Keyword(s):

Elevated Temperature ◽

Phytoplankton Community ◽

Phytoplankton Bloom ◽

Harmful Algal Bloom ◽

Elevated Pco2 ◽

Combined Effects ◽

English Channel ◽

Phytoplankton Productivity ◽

Community Biomass ◽

Experimentally Induced

Abstract. The combined effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature were investigated during an experimentally induced autumn phytoplankton bloom in vitro sampled from the western English Channel (WEC). A full factorial 36-day microcosm experiment was conducted under year 2100 predicted temperature (+4.5 ∘C) and pCO2 levels (800 µatm). Over the experimental period total phytoplankton biomass was significantly influenced by elevated pCO2. At the end of the experiment, biomass increased 6.5-fold under elevated pCO2 and 4.6-fold under elevated temperature relative to the ambient control. By contrast, the combined influence of elevated pCO2 and temperature had little effect on biomass relative to the control. Throughout the experiment in all treatments and in the control, the phytoplankton community structure shifted from dinoflagellates to nanophytoplankton . At the end of the experiment, under elevated pCO2 nanophytoplankton contributed 90 % of community biomass and was dominated by Phaeocystis spp. Under elevated temperature, nanophytoplankton comprised 85 % of the community biomass and was dominated by smaller nanoflagellates. In the control, larger nanoflagellates dominated whilst the smallest nanophytoplankton contribution was observed under combined elevated pCO2 and temperature (∼ 40 %). Under elevated pCO2, temperature and in the control there was a significant decrease in dinoflagellate biomass. Under the combined effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature, dinoflagellate biomass increased and was dominated by the harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, Prorocentrum cordatum. At the end of the experiment, chlorophyll a (Chl a) normalised maximum photosynthetic rates (PmB) increased > 6-fold under elevated pCO2 and > 3-fold under elevated temperature while no effect on PmB was observed when pCO2 and temperature were elevated simultaneously. The results suggest that future increases in temperature and pCO2 simultaneously do not appear to influence coastal phytoplankton productivity but significantly influence community composition during autumn in the WEC.

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