Comment on “The complex effects of ocean acidification on the prominent N 2 -fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium ”

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Hutchins, David A., Fu, Feixue, Walworth, Nathan G., Lee, Michael D., Saito, Mak A., Webb, Eric A.
• Other Authors: National Science Foundation
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2017
• Subjects: Multidisciplinary; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao0067; https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.aao0067

Hong et al . (Reports, 5 May 2017, p. 527) suggested that previous studies of the biogeochemically significant marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium showing increased growth and nitrogen fixation at projected future high CO 2 levels suffered from ammonia or copper toxicity. They reported that these rates instead decrease at high CO 2 when contamination is alleviated. We present and discuss results of multiple published studies refuting this toxicity hypothesis.