Determining the Effects of Ocean Perturbations on Marine Phytoplankton Assemblages

• Main Authors: Mentors Zbigniew Kolber, Denis Klimov
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ocean; Acidification; Marine; Phytoplankton; Perturbation; Pacific; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.525.1903; http://www.mbari.org/education/internship/08interns/08papers/Foreman.pdf

The ocean provides a dynamic, constantly changing environment for marine phytoplankton. Understanding the effects of these changes on phytoplankton assemblages is fundamental when trying to anticipate future responses of primary producer’s community to long-term environmental changes. In this study, artificial perturbation experiments were successfully performed on natural assemblages of phytoplankton to simulate conditions consistent with ocean acidification and North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) upwelling patterns. These experiments demonstrated the feasibility and value of such perturbations in studying phytoplankton responses to environmental forcing.