IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v407y2000i6802d10.1038_35030078.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reduced calcification of marine plankton in response to increased atmospheric CO2

Author

Listed:
  • Ulf Riebesell

    (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Ingrid Zondervan

    (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Björn Rost

    (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Philippe D. Tortell

    (Princeton University)

  • Richard E. Zeebe

    (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University)

  • François M. M. Morel

    (Princeton University)

Abstract

The formation of calcareous skeletons by marine planktonic organisms and their subsequent sinking to depth generates a continuous rain of calcium carbonate to the deep ocean and underlying sediments1. This is important in regulating marine carbon cycling and ocean–atmosphere CO2 exchange2. The present rise in atmospheric CO2 levels3 causes significant changes in surface ocean pH and carbonate chemistry4. Such changes have been shown to slow down calcification in corals and coralline macroalgae5,6, but the majority of marine calcification occurs in planktonic organisms. Here we report reduced calcite production at increased CO2 concentrations in monospecific cultures of two dominant marine calcifying phytoplankton species, the coccolithophorids Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica . This was accompanied by an increased proportion of malformed coccoliths and incomplete coccospheres. Diminished calcification led to a reduction in the ratio of calcite precipitation to organic matter production. Similar results were obtained in incubations of natural plankton assemblages from the north Pacific ocean when exposed to experimentally elevated CO2 levels. We suggest that the progressive increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations may therefore slow down the production of calcium carbonate in the surface ocean. As the process of calcification releases CO2 to the atmosphere, the response observed here could potentially act as a negative feedback on atmospheric CO2 levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulf Riebesell & Ingrid Zondervan & Björn Rost & Philippe D. Tortell & Richard E. Zeebe & François M. M. Morel, 2000. "Reduced calcification of marine plankton in response to increased atmospheric CO2," Nature, Nature, vol. 407(6802), pages 364-367, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:407:y:2000:i:6802:d:10.1038_35030078
    DOI: 10.1038/35030078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/35030078
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/35030078?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bernard, O. & Sciandra, A. & Madani, S., 2008. "Multimodel analysis of the response of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi to an elevation of pCO2 under nitrate limitation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 211(3), pages 324-338.
    2. Rau, Greg H. & Knauss, Kevin G. & Langer, William H. & Caldeira, Ken, 2007. "Reducing energy-related CO2 emissions using accelerated weathering of limestone," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1471-1477.
    3. David Archer & Edwin Kite & Greg Lusk, 2020. "The ultimate cost of carbon," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 2069-2086, October.
    4. Heidari, Negin & Pearce, Joshua M., 2016. "A review of greenhouse gas emission liabilities as the value of renewable energy for mitigating lawsuits for climate change related damages," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 899-908.
    5. Weicheng Xu & Xiangyu Zhu, 2022. "Evaluation and Determinants of the Digital Inclusive Financial Support Efficiency for Marine Carbon Sink Fisheries: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-24, October.
    6. Simen Alexander Linge Johnsen & Jörg Bollmann & Christina Gebuehr & Jens O Herrle, 2019. "Relationship between coccolith length and thickness in the coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-23, August.
    7. Victor Brovkin & Vladimir Petoukhov & Martin Claussen & Eva Bauer & David Archer & Carlo Jaeger, 2009. "Geoengineering climate by stratospheric sulfur injections: Earth system vulnerability to technological failure," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 243-259, February.
    8. Simen Alexander Linge Johnsen & Jörg Bollmann, 2020. "Coccolith mass and morphology of different Emiliania huxleyi morphotypes: A critical examination using Canary Islands material," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-29, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:407:y:2000:i:6802:d:10.1038_35030078. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.