The phrase
"plankton community" refers to a group of tiny organisms that live in water and drift or float freely. They include plants and animals, and they're an important part of the aquatic ecosystem.
Full definition
In this study we combined results from various in - situ mesocosm studies in two different ocean regions (Arctic and temperate waters) to reveal general patterns
of plankton community shifts in response to OA and how these changes are modulated by inorganic nutrient availability.
In situ mesocosm experiments on the effect of ocean acidification (OA) are an important tool for investigating potential OA - induced changes in
natural plankton communities.
Those three papers explore the global ocean microbiome and plankton interaction networks, as well as
how plankton communities change across a key ocean circulation choke point off South Africa.
Scientists of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel used so - called «indoor mesocosms» to mimic the future ocean in their laboratories: They transferred the natural
plankton community from the Kiel Fjord into twelve 1400 - liter tanks and brought them to two different temperatures and two different carbon dioxide concentrations.
However, it is clear that the importance of M. ovum in the
arctic plankton community is larger than was previously thought, especially considering the patchy occurrence of the species and its prey.
Mussels have caused high mortality in native Unionid clams (though some clams seem able to coexist with zebra mussels), altered the makeup of populations living at the bottom of the waterways and
reduced plankton communities.
Continue reading «Influence of ocean acidification and deep water upwelling on
oligotrophic plankton communities in the subtropical North Atlantic: Insights from an in situ mesocosm study»
Mesocosm experiments found that when atmospheric CO2 was increased, primary production
by plankton community consumed 39 % more DIC.
In this BIOACID Science Portrait, Ulf Riebesell tells you how the KOSMOS mesocosms, «giant test tubes», help researchers to find out more about the reactions
of plankton communities to ocean acidification — and what these field experiments mean to him.
However, current scientific knowledge is largely based on laboratory experiments with single species and artificial boundary conditions, whereas studies of
natural plankton communities are still relatively rare.
Furthermore the potential and limitations of biogeochemical measurements inside pelagic mesocosms that host
entire plankton communities are elucidated.
«When it was time for Emiliania to start bloom formation, there were so few cells left in
the plankton community that it couldn't outgrow its competitors anymore,» reflects Ulf Riebesell.
«Most of the studies that we reviewed found plausible and even likely links between sea ice and things like polar bear breeding success, seal breeding success,
plankton communities, and even climates in coastal terrestrial systems.
Over a period of five months, an international team of scientists will monitor the responses of
the plankton community to ocean acidification.
With this unique seagoing experimental system, the researchers investigated how
the plankton community responds to ocean acidification and whether it is able to adapt to new environmental conditions in the long run.
«Different teams investigate the development and productivity of
the plankton community, changes in the food web, in the material and energy cycles and in the production of climate - active gases», Riebesell describes the wide range of scientific questions addressed in this mesocosm campaign.
But we wanted to observe the natural development of the plankton ecosystem from the first productivity in late winter until summer, closely monitor the succession of
the plankton communities and follow how effects of ocean acidification are transmitted from one generation to the next,» Riebesell explains.
Thirty - five scientists from twelve countries deployed these «giant test tubes» in the Kongsfjord off Ny - Ålesund to investigate how ocean acidification affects
the plankton community in the Arctic.
They report the persistence of a long ecosystem interaction chain, which links trees to manta rays via changes to seabirds, forests, soils, nutrient runoff and
plankton communities.
Continue reading «Influence of ocean acidification on elemental mass balances and particulate organic matter stoichiometry in natural
plankton communities `
At the start of the experiment in late September, the conditions were truly oligotrophic: «The nutrient concentrations were hardly above the detection limit, and
the plankton community was dominated by tiny algal cells and microzooplankton species.
In an experiment with organisms from the Kiel Fjord, a team of biologists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel demonstrated for the first time, that ocean acidification and rising water temperatures harms the fatty acid composition of copepods in the natural
plankton community.
In an unprecedented long - term experiment, 69 scientists from 12 European research institutes and universities studied the development of
the plankton community and fish larvae in acidified waters.