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Microorganisms and ocean global change

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From Nature Microbiology

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Abstract

The prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms that drive the pelagic ocean's biogeochemical cycles are currently facing an unprecedented set of comprehensive anthropogenic changes. Nearly every important control on marine microbial physiology is currently in flux, including seawater pH, pCO2, temperature, redox chemistry, irradiance and nutrient availability. Here, we examine how microorganisms with key roles in the ocean carbon and nitrogen cycles may respond to these changes in the Earth's largest ecosystem. Some functional groups such as nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and denitrifiers may be net beneficiaries of these changes, while others such as calcifiers and nitrifiers may be negatively impacted. Other groups, such as heterotrophic bacteria, may be relatively resilient to changing conditions. The challenge for marine microbiologists will be to predict how these divergent future responses of marine microorganisms to complex multiple variable interactions will be expressed through changing biogeography, community structure and adaptive evolution, and ultimately through large-scale alterations of the ocean's carbon and nutrient cycles.

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Figure 1: Anthropogenic global change effects on key chemical and physical factors that influence the growth and community composition of marine planktonic microorganisms.
Figure 2: Impacts of anthropogenic global change on physical, chemical and biological components of the ocean carbon cycle.
Figure 3: The diversity of CO2, temperature and light conditions used in six published coccolithophore global change experiments.
Figure 4: Anthropogenic global change effects on the microbially mediated ocean nitrogen cycle.
Figure 5: Possible biological responses of a model phytoplankton community to climate change.

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Acknowledgements

Support was provided by US National Science Foundation grants OCE 1260490, OCE 1538525, and OCE 1657757 to D.A.H. and F.F. Thanks to J. Brown and the Wrigley Institute of Environmental Sciences for assistance with graphics.

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  1. Marine and Environmental Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90089, California, USA

    David A. Hutchins & Feixue Fu

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  1. David A. Hutchins
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D.A.H. developed much of the material presented and wrote the paper, with major contributions from F.F.

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Correspondence to David A. Hutchins.

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Hutchins, D., Fu, F. Microorganisms and ocean global change. Nat Microbiol 2, 17058 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.58

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