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Enhanced abundance of tintinnids under elevated CO2 level from coastal Bay of Bengal

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Abstract

The role of microzooplankton (MZP) in the pelagic trophodynamics is highly significant, but the responses of marine MZP to increasing CO2 levels are rather poorly understood. Hence the present study was undertaken to understand the responses of marine plankton to increasing CO2 concentrations. Natural water samples from the coastal Bay of Bengal were incubated under the ambient condition and high CO2 levels (703–711 μatm) for 5 days in May and June 2010. A significant negative correlation was obtained between phytoplankton and MZP abundance which indicated that phytoplankton community structure can considerably be controlled by MZP in this region. The average relative abundances of tintinnids under elevated CO2 levels were found to be significantly higher (68.65 ± 5.63% in May; 85.46 ± 9.56% in June) than observed in the ambient condition (35.68 ± 6.83% in May; 79 ± 5.36% in June). The observed dominance of small chain forming diatom species probably played a crucial role as they can be potentially grazed by tintinnids. This fact was strengthened by the observed high negative correlations between the relative abundance of major phytoplankton and tintinnids. Moreover, particulate organic carbon and total bacterial counts were also enhanced under elevated CO2 level and can serve as additional food source for ciliates. The observed responses of tintinnids to increasing CO2 might have multiple impacts on the energy transfer, nutrient and carbon cycling in the coastal water. The duration of the present study was relatively short and therefore further investigation on longer time scale needs to be done and might give us a better insight about phytoplankton and MZP species succession under elevated CO2 level.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the project SIP-1308 (CSIR funding). We acknowledge the financial support from the Indian Academy of Science to one of the co-authors Dr. Subhadra Devi Gadi for conducting the study. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the director NIO and the scientist-in-charge (RC, Visakhapatnam) for financial and moral support. We are thankful to Mr. Praven Kumar and V. Rajendra Prasad for analyzing POC/PON samples and dissolved organic carbon. We are thankful to all of our colleagues and students for their active cooperation during this study. The NIO contribution number is 5087.

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  1. National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Center, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), 176 Lawson’s Bay Colony, Visakhapatnam, 530017, India

    Haimanti Biswas, V. Venkata Ramana, M. Durga Bharathi & D. Taruni Manjari

  2. Department of Zoology, Carmel College of Arts, Science and Commerce for Women, Nuvem, 403 601, Goa, India

    Subhadra Devi Gadi

  3. National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dona Paula, 43004, Goa, India

    R. Kesava Priyan

  4. National Institute of Oceanography, Doan Paula, 43004, Goa, India

    M. Dileep Kumar

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  1. Haimanti Biswas
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  3. V. Venkata Ramana
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  4. M. Durga Bharathi
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Correspondence to Haimanti Biswas.

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Biswas, H., Gadi, S.D., Ramana, V.V. et al. Enhanced abundance of tintinnids under elevated CO2 level from coastal Bay of Bengal. Biodivers Conserv 21, 1309–1326 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0209-7

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