Interactive effects of ocean acidification with other environmental drivers on marine plankton

Planktonic organisms form the base of the marine food web and may be impacted by environmental change in many ways. The interactive effects of multiple, simultaneous climate-driven changes on these organisms are not well understood. This dissertation examined the impacts of ocean acidification in combination with other environmental stressors on marine plankton and determined spatial patterns of one of these potential interactive drivers. Chapter 2 investigated the synergistic effects of ocean acidification and hypoxia on the harmful dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae. Findings indicated that empirical studies may be crucial to accurately predict organismal responses to multi-stressors. Results also suggested that photorespiration may serve a previously unrecognized role in dinoflagellate metabolism. Chapter 3 examined the combined effects of ocean acidification and lithogenic trace metals on the growth of another harmful dinoflagellate, Cochlodinium polykrikoides. Results indicated that high suspended sediment loads may deliver toxic concentrations of trace elements to marine phytoplankton in acidified coastal ecosystems. Chapter 4 examined the interactive effects of ocean acidification and bacteria on the severity and extent of dissolution in the shells of larval gastropods and the adult pteropod Limacina helicina. Research findings indicated that microbial communities on the shell surfaces of some planktonic molluscs may mediate certain types of shell dissolution in acidified, upwelled waters. Chapter 5 explored the use of thorium isotope fluxes as a proxy for dust and lithogenic iron in the Indian Ocean. Results suggested that the gradient of dust fluxes in the region could impose thresholds for biological productivity. Together, these interdisciplinary studies demonstrate coupled biological and chemical changes in marine ecosystems as a result of increased anthropogenic environmental change

Biodegradation and chemical characterization of petroleum diesel hydrocarbons in seawater at low temperatures

Master's thesis in Environmental engineeringPetroleum hydrocarbons are a major source of marine contamination. Biodegradation, which is fundamental for the natural attenuation of these hydrocarbons in nature, involves mineralization or transformation of organic compounds by autochthonous microorganism communities. Various limiting factors characteristic of the petroleum, the external environment, and the microbial community determine the fate of oil (e.g., diesel) in the marine environment. Here, laboratory biodegradation experiments were conducted to investigate the aerobic biodegradation and chemical utilization of petroleum diesel hydrocarbons in seawater at four different temperatures: 15, 8, 4, and 0.5°C. Diesel, the sole carbon source, was immobilized on Fluortex adsorbents in closed-­bottle microcosms. Biological oxygen demand was monitored via respirometric measurements over a period of 64 days. Designated test flasks were removed from incubation at various times for extraction, bacterial sampling, or total organic carbon analysis. Chemical degradation of the individual diesel hydrocarbons was monitored via liquid-liquid extraction in pentane, evaporation, and gas chromatography analysis. Based on chemical and bacterial analyses of diesel biodegradation, it was determined that incubation temperature affected petroleum diesel biodegradation. Rates of diesel biodegradation were enhanced at 15°C and retarded at 0.5°C. According to calculated half-life values for diesel hydrocarbon constituents, the rates of utilization were directly proportional to temperature and inversely proportional to hydrocarbon chain length. The method for chemical analysis caused significant evaporative losses of volatile hydrocarbon diesel fractions (64%). For both biodegradation and chemical utilization, the final extent of degradation was not affected by temperature. Future research is recommended to better understand biodegradation in natural systems

230Th Normalization: New Insights on an Essential Tool for Quantifying Sedimentary Fluxes in the Modern and Quaternary Ocean

230Th normalization is a valuable paleoceanographic tool for reconstructing high-resolution sediment fluxes during the late Pleistocene (last ~500,000 years). As its application has expanded to ever more diverse marine environments, the nuances of 230Th systematics, with regard to particle type, particle size, lateral advective/diffusive redistribution, and other processes, have emerged. We synthesized over 1000 sedimentary records of 230Th from across the global ocean at two time slices, the late Holocene (0–5,000 years ago, or 0–5 ka) and the Last Glacial Maximum (18.5–23.5 ka), and investigated the spatial structure of 230Th-normalized mass fluxes. On a global scale, sedimentary mass fluxes were significantly higher during the Last Glacial Maximum (1.79–2.17 g/cm2kyr, 95% confidence) relative to the Holocene (1.48–1.68 g/cm2kyr, 95% confidence). We then examined the potential confounding influences of boundary scavenging, nepheloid layers, hydrothermal scavenging, size-dependent sediment fractionation, and carbonate dissolution on the efficacy of 230Th as a constant flux proxy. Anomalous 230Th behavior is sometimes observed proximal to hydrothermal ridges and in continental margins where high particle fluxes and steep continental slopes can lead to the combined effects of boundary scavenging and nepheloid interference. Notwithstanding these limitations, we found that 230Th normalization is a robust tool for determining sediment mass accumulation rates in the majority of pelagic marine settings (\u3e1,000 m water depth)

230 Th normalization: new insights on an essential tool for quantifying sedimentary fluxes in the modern and quaternary ocean

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Costa, K. M., Hayes, C. T., Anderson, R. F., Pavia, F. J., Bausch, A., Deng, F., Dutay, J., Geibert, W., Heinze, C., Henderson, G., Hillaire-Marcel, C., Hoffmann, S., Jaccard, S. L., Jacobel, A. W., Kienast, S. S., Kipp, L., Lerner, P., Lippold, J., Lund, D., Marcantonio, F., McGee, D., McManus, J. F., Mekik, F., Middleton, J. L., Missiaen, L., Not, C., Pichat, S., Robinson, L. F., Rowland, G. H., Roy-Barman, M., Alessandro, Torfstein, A., Winckler, G., & Zhou, Y. 230 Th normalization: new insights on an essential tool for quantifying sedimentary fluxes in the modern and quaternary ocean. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 35(2), (2020): e2019PA003820, doi:10.1029/2019PA003820.230Th normalization is a valuable paleoceanographic tool for reconstructing high‐resolution sediment fluxes during the late Pleistocene (last ~500,000 years). As its application has expanded to ever more diverse marine environments, the nuances of 230Th systematics, with regard to particle type, particle size, lateral advective/diffusive redistribution, and other processes, have emerged. We synthesized over 1000 sedimentary records of 230Th from across the global ocean at two time slices, the late Holocene (0–5,000 years ago, or 0–5 ka) and the Last Glacial Maximum (18.5–23.5 ka), and investigated the spatial structure of 230Th‐normalized mass fluxes. On a global scale, sedimentary mass fluxes were significantly higher during the Last Glacial Maximum (1.79–2.17 g/cm2kyr, 95% confidence) relative to the Holocene (1.48–1.68 g/cm2kyr, 95% confidence). We then examined the potential confounding influences of boundary scavenging, nepheloid layers, hydrothermal scavenging, size‐dependent sediment fractionation, and carbonate dissolution on the efficacy of 230Th as a constant flux proxy. Anomalous 230Th behavior is sometimes observed proximal to hydrothermal ridges and in continental margins where high particle fluxes and steep continental slopes can lead to the combined effects of boundary scavenging and nepheloid interference. Notwithstanding these limitations, we found that 230Th normalization is a robust tool for determining sediment mass accumulation rates in the majority of pelagic marine settings (>1,000 m water depth).We thank Zanna Chase and one anonymous reviewer for valuable feedback. K. M. C. was supported by a Postdoctoral Scholarship at WHOI. L. M. acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council grant DP180100048. The contribution of C. T. H., J. F. M., and R. F. A. were supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation (US‐NSF). G. H. R. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant NE/L002434/1). S. L. J. acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants PP002P2_144811 and PP00P2_172915). This study was supported by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project, which in turn received support from the Swiss Academy of Sciences and the US‐NSF. This work grew out of a 2018 workshop in Aix‐Marseille, France, funded by PAGES, GEOTRACES, SCOR, US‐NSF, Aix‐Marseille Université, and John Cantle Scientific. All data are publicly available as supporting information to this document and on the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/28791

\u3csup\u3e230\u3c/sup\u3eTh Normalization: New Insights on an Essential Tool for Quantifying Sedimentary Fluxes in the Modern and Quaternary Ocean

230Th normalization is a valuable paleoceanographic tool for reconstructing high‐resolution sediment fluxes during the late Pleistocene (last ~500,000 years). As its application has expanded to ever more diverse marine environments, the nuances of 230Th systematics, with regard to particle type, particle size, lateral advective/diffusive redistribution, and other processes, have emerged. We synthesized over 1000 sedimentary records of 230Th from across the global ocean at two time slices, the late Holocene (0–5,000 years ago, or 0–5 ka) and the Last Glacial Maximum (18.5–23.5 ka), and investigated the spatial structure of 230Th‐normalized mass fluxes. On a global scale, sedimentary mass fluxes were significantly higher during the Last Glacial Maximum (1.79–2.17 g/cm2kyr, 95% confidence) relative to the Holocene (1.48–1.68 g/cm2kyr, 95% confidence). We then examined the potential confounding influences of boundary scavenging, nepheloid layers, hydrothermal scavenging, size‐dependent sediment fractionation, and carbonate dissolution on the efficacy of 230Th as a constant flux proxy. Anomalous 230Th behavior is sometimes observed proximal to hydrothermal ridges and in continental margins where high particle fluxes and steep continental slopes can lead to the combined effects of boundary scavenging and nepheloid interference. Notwithstanding these limitations, we found that 230Th normalization is a robust tool for determining sediment mass accumulation rates in the majority of pelagic marine settings (\u3e1,000 m water depth)

Combined effects of simulated acidification and hypoxia on the harmful dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae

Hypoxia and acidification frequently co-occur in coastal marine ecosystems, and will likely become more intense and persis- tent with anthropogenic climate change. Although the separate effects of these stressors have previously been described, their combined effects on marine phytoplankton are currently unknown. In this novel study, multi-stressor incubation experiments using the harmful dinoflagellate, Amphidinium carterae, examined the effects of acidification and hypoxia both individually and in combination. Long-term (7 days) and short-term (6 h) experiments under controlled carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) conditions examined the interactive effects of the stressors and the physiological mechanisms driving their interaction. In the long-term experiment, synergistically negative effects were observed for A. carterae growth, photosynthesis, carbon fixation, nitrate uptake, and photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) under combined high CO2 (low pH) and low O2 conditions. In the short-term experiment, delayed recovery of photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers was observed following photoinhibi- tion, suggesting that high CO2 and low O2 conditions negatively affect photosynthesis in A. carterae even after relatively short exposures. Although high CO2, low O2 conditions should decrease photorespiration and favor carbon fixation by the key photosynthetic enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate-carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), these findings demonstrate that the affinity of RuBisCO for CO2 relative to O2 alone does not predict phytoplankton responses to CO2 and O2 conditions in vivo, complicating predictions of phytoplankton community responses to hypoxia and acidification. Results of these experi- ments suggest that the combination of low pH and O2 concentrations may negatively impact the growth of some harmful dinoflagellates in coastal marine ecosystems

Seawater carbonate chemistry and shell dissolution in dead gastropod larvae and adult Limacina helicina pteropods

Ocean acidification (OA) increases aragonite shell dissolution in calcifying marine organisms. It has been proposed that bacteria associated with molluscan shell surfaces in situ could damage the periostracum and reduce its protective function against shell dissolution. However, the influence of bacteria on shell dissolution under OA conditions is unknown. In this study, dissolution in dead shells from gastropod larvae and adult pteropods (Limacina helicina) was examined following a 5-day incubation under a range of aragonite saturation states (Ωarag; values ranging from 0.5 to 1.8) both with and without antibiotics. Gastropod and pteropod specimens were collected from Puget Sound, Washington (48°33′19″N, 122°59′49″W and 47°41′11″N, 122°25′23″W, respectively), preserved, stored, and then treated in August 2015. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) was used to determine the severity and extent of dissolution, which was scored as mild, severe, or summed (mild + severe) dissolution. Shell dissolution increased with decreasing Ωarag. In gastropod larvae, there was a significant interaction between the effects of antibiotics and Ωarag on severe dissolution, indicating that microbes could mediate certain types of dissolution among shells under low Ωarag. In L. helicina, there were no significant interactions between the effects of antibiotics and Ωarag on dissolution. These findings suggest that bacteria may differentially influence the response of some groups of shelled planktonic gastropods to OA conditions. This is the first assessment of the microbial–chemical coupling of dissolution in shells of either gastropod larvae or adult L. helicina under OA