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Effects of ocean acidification, temperature and nutrient regimes on the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica: a mesocosm study

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Abstract

Increasing pCO2 is hypothesized to induce shifts in plankton communities toward smaller cells, reduced carbon export rates and increased roles of gelatinous zooplankton. Appendicularians, among the most numerous pan-global “gelatinous” zooplankton, continuously produce filter-feeding houses, shortcutting marine food webs by ingesting submicron particles, and their discarded houses contribute significantly to carbon fluxes. We present a first mesocosm-scale study on the effects of temperature, pCO2 and bloom structures on the appendicularian, Oikopleura dioica. There were effects of temperature and nutrients on phytoplankton communities. No shifts in functional phytoplankton groups, nor changes in particle sizes/morphotypes, known to impact appendicularian feeding, were observed under manipulated pCO2 conditions. However, appendicularian abundance was positively correlated with increased pCO2, temperature and nutrient levels, consistent with hypotheses concerning gelatinous zooplankton in future oceans. This suggests appendicularians will play more important roles in marine pelagic communities and vertical carbon transport under projected ocean acidification and elevated temperature scenarios.

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Acknowledgments

The thermostat was borrowed from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Department of Biology II, D-82152 Planegg–Martinsried, Germany. Thanks to Halfdan Gjertsen, Agnes Aadnesen and Thomas Sørlie for technical and administrative assistance during the mesocosm, the staff at Appendic Park, the Sars Center for an initial stock of appendicularians, and two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript. CT was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) project 190265/S40, JCN by the NRC project 152714/120 30 and SD from the Linnaeus Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology at the University of Gothenburg and by a Linnaeus grant from the Swedish Research Councils VR and Formas. This project was supported by MESOAQUA (EU FP7-INFRA-2008-1, 228224), through the Transnational Access Project FUTUREWEB to CLR, AN, SD, SB, HHJ, NR, JD and AFZ and Norwegian Research Council grants NFR 133335/V40 and 204040/E40 to EMT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Uni Environment, Uni Research AS, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Christofer Troedsson, Aliona Novac & Jens C. Nejstgaard

  2. Uni Sars, Uni Research AS, Thormøhlensgate 55, 5008, Bergen, Norway

    Jean-Marie Bouquet & Eric M. Thompson

  3. Department of Biology, University of Bergen, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Jean-Marie Bouquet & Aliona Novac

  4. Department of Biology of Organisms and Systems, University of Oviedo, 33071, Oviedo, Spain

    Carla M. Lobon

  5. Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, 10 Ocean Science Circle, Savannah, GA, 31411, USA

    Jens C. Nejstgaard

  6. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Kristineberg, 45178, Fiskebäckskil, Sweden

    Sam Dupont

  7. Division of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Suncica Bosak

  8. Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborggade 399, P.O. Box 358, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Hans H. Jakobsen

  9. P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 36 Nakhimovsky prosp., 117997, Moscow, Russia

    Nadezda Romanova & Andrey F. Sazhin

  10. National Institute of Aquaculture Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergården 6, 2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark

    Lene M. Pankoke, Alejandro Isla & Jörg Dutz

  11. Centro Oceanográfico de Gijón, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Avda. Príncipe de Asturias, 70 bis, 33212, Gijón, Spain

    Alejandro Isla

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  1. Christofer Troedsson
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  2. Jean-Marie Bouquet
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  14. Eric M. Thompson
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Correspondence to Christofer Troedsson or Eric M. Thompson.

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Communicated by H.-O. Pörtner.

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Troedsson, C., Bouquet, JM., Lobon, C.M. et al. Effects of ocean acidification, temperature and nutrient regimes on the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica: a mesocosm study. Mar Biol 160, 2175–2187 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2137-9

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