Aquatic ecosystems are responsible for about 50% of global productivity. They mitigate climate change by taking up a substantial fraction of anthropogenically emitted CO2 and sink part of it into the deep ocean. Productivity is controlled by a number of environmental factors, such as water temperature, ocean acidification, nutrient availability, deoxygenation and exposure to solar UV radiation. These factors may interact to yield additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects. While ocean warming and deoxygenation are supposed to affect mitochondrial respiration oppositely, they can act synergistically to influence the migration of plankton and N2-fixation of diazotrophs. Ocean acidification, along with elevated pCO2, exhibits controversial effects on marine primary producers, resulting in negative impacts under high light and limited availability of nutrients. However, the acidic stress has been shown to exacerbate viral attacks on microalgae and to act synergistically with UV radiation to reduce the calcification of algal calcifiers. Elevated pCO2 in surface oceans is known to downregulate the CCMs (CO2 concentrating mechanisms) of phytoplankton, but deoxygenation is proposed to enhance CCMs by suppressing photorespiration. While most of the studies on climate-change drivers have been carried out under controlled conditions, field observations over long periods of time have been scarce. Mechanistic responses of phytoplankton to multiple drivers have been little documented due to the logistic difficulties to manipulate numerous replications for different treatments representative of the drivers.
1. Introduction
The marine ecosystems cover 70.8% of our planet. Their primary productivity rivals that of all terrestrial ecosystems taken together
[1], even though their standing crop is only about 1% of their counterparts on land
[2][3]. The primary producers in these ecosystems include macroalgae, which are mainly confined to coastal habitats because they are sessile
[4], with a few exceptions, such as members of the genus
Sargassum which are found floating in the open ocean
[5]. The highest concentration of marine biomass is found at higher latitudes and near the coasts. The majority of the aquatic primary producers consists of prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton both in freshwater and marine ecosystems
[6][7].
Because of the requirement for solar radiation, the primary aquatic producers are restricted to the photic zone, the lower limit of which is defined as the depth where the light level has decreased to 1% of the surface irradiance
[8]. This is the light level at which respiration compensates photosynthetic oxygen production. The physical depth of the photic zone depends on the concentrations of organic and inorganic dissolved and particulate matters, which are much higher in coastal than in oligotrophic open oceanic waters
[9]. The prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms form the basis of many extended food webs and sustain zooplankton, invertebrates, fish and mammals and provide food for the growing human population outcompeting the production of meat from terrestrial animals in many regions of the world
[10].
The oceans absorb about 50–60 Petagram (PG) of anthropogenically released carbon per year. The biosphere in the oceans and on land absorbs about 45% of the anthropogenically released carbon dioxide
[11]. The CO
2 concentration has increased from about 270 ppm before the industrial revolution to about 420 ppm today
[12]. During the period from 2009 to 2018 the oceanic sink for anthropogenic carbon was about 2.5 ± 0.6 PG C per year, which drastically reduces the effects of global warming
[11]. Part of the absorbed atmospheric CO
2 is taken up by phytoplankton in the top layer (photic zone) of the water column and sediments to the deep sea when the organisms die or in the form of fecal pellets as marine snow, a process called marine biological CO
2 pump
[13][14].
2. Global Climate Change
Increasing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases result in rising temperatures in the Earth’s atmosphere, though the oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the Earth’s back heating. Since 1979, the mean global air temperature has increased by 0.27 °C per decade
[15], and the latest (6th) IPCC report predicts that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C will require drastic measures
[16]. In contrast, the sea surface temperature increased at about 0.13 °C per decade due to the large buffering capacity of the oceans
[17]. However, the increment is far from being uniform on the planet
[18]. This is especially evident in the Arctic, where temperatures rise much faster than in most other parts of the world. This is in part due to a feedback mechanism: Ice and snow scatter and reflect the incoming solar radiation to a high degree
[19]. As the ice melts, the open soil and water absorb solar radiation more strongly, heating the land and sea. As a consequence, the summer ice extent in the Arctic Ocean has decreased by about 45% during the last three decades
[20][21]. This has dramatic consequences for the water column. The ice and snow cover protected the underlying photic zone from impinging solar UV-B radiation
[22]. In contrast, the higher temperatures and increased impact of visible radiation supports a fast growth of phytoplankton in the upper layer which fosters an increase in consumer biomass
[23]. Rapid ice melting reduces the salinity of the water and increases the amount of dissolved and particulate matter
[24], which affects growth and species composition of the phytoplankton communities.
All organisms have specific thermal windows concerning their tolerance of thermal stress. We can define a lower limit, an optimum temperature and an upper limit. Tropical and subtropical corals have been found to die due to extensive heat that exceeds their permissive upper temperature limit
[25][26]. Extended exposure to elevated temperatures results in the expulsion of their symbiotic zooxanthellae, which are photosynthetic dinoflagellates
[27][28], resulting in massive bleaching and causes starvation
[29][30]. The first signs of thermally induced damage can be detected by pulse-amplitude-modulated (PAM) chlorophyll fluorescence and photorespirometry. Exposure of
Stylophora pistillata to 34 °C for 4 h resulted in a strong non-photochemical quenching, which indicates that the absorbed solar energy is no longer available to drive photosynthesis but is dissipated as heat
[29]. Furthermore, the photosynthetic oxygen production and the quantum yield were drastically reduced. Bleaching is further aggravated by exposure to solar UV radiation especially at lower depths
[31], as found in the sensitive
Pocillopora meandrina up to a depth of 20 m, even though corals utilize a UV-absorbing pigment to protect them from UV radiation
[32].
The temperature in the Mediterranean Sea is rising three times faster than in the global oceans
[33]. Typical seagrasses and macroalgae in the area, such as
Posidonia oceanica,
Cystoseira compressa, Padina pavonica,
Caulerpa prolifera and
Halimeda tuna, differ in their thermal optima, and their upper lethal limits were found between 28.9 and >34 °C. The highest temperature optimum in this study was detected in
Cymodocea nodosa. These results indicate that some species will profit from climate-change-induced higher temperatures by outcompeting other species, though little has been documented on their juvenile or spore/gamete stages. Increasing temperatures also change the species composition in phytoplankton assemblages
[34], as indicated by comparing several thousand foraminifera communities from pre-industrial times with modern ones. Some species have been found to show a fast adaptation to increasing temperatures. Four diatom species isolated from the tropical Red Sea adapted to 30 °C after 200–600 generations and showed increased optimal growth temperature and their upper tolerated temperature limit
[35].
Solar UV radiation (UVR, 280–400 nm) can damage DNA
[91][92] and repress its repair in phytoplankton
[109]. While UV-B irradiance represents less than 1% of the total solar energy, it is commonly more harmful than UV-A, as UV-B photons are more energetic than those of UV-A, which is about 6–8% of the total solar energy in subtropical areas. In addition, UVR can also generate active free oxygen radicals that lead to oxidative stress
[91], lowering photosynthetic rates
[110]. However, UVR, especially UV-A, may enhance photosynthesis of phytoplankton assemblages
[111] and macroalgae
[112][113]. Through historical adaptation, phytoplankton and macroalgae are able to cope with UVR, mainly by synthesizing UV-screening pigments such as MAAs and by eliminating active oxygen free radicals and repairing damaged proteins and DNA
[91].
Ocean warming and acidification expose phytoplankton cells to higher temperatures and lower pH. The diatom
Skeletonema costatum has been reported to increase the activity of periplasmic carbonic anhydrase (CAe) when exposed to moderate UVR levels and to raise its CCMs efficiency
[114][115]. For the red tide alga
Phaeocystis globosa grown under OA at 1000 µatm pCO
2 and full spectrum solar radiation with UVR, its photosynthetic efficiency showed the lowest values at noon
[116].
Warming is suggested to alleviate UV-related damage due to increased activities of enzymes involved in repair processes
[117][118]. When the diatom
Phaeodactylum tricornutum had acclimated to two CO
2 concentrations (390 and 1000 μatm) for more than 20 generations, OA treatment enhanced the non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of the cells and partially counteracted the damage of UVR to PSII, which, however, was moderated by warming treatment
[119].