Ocean acidification and the loss of phenolic substances in marine plants ...

• Main Authors: Arnold, Thomas, Mealey, Christopher, Leahey, Hannah, Miller, A Whitman, Hall-Spencer, Jason M, Milazzo, Marco, Maers, Kelly
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: Benthos; CO2 vent; Coast and continental shelf; Cymodocea nodosa; Field experiment; Field observation; Immunology/Self-protection; Mediterranean Sea; Mesocosm or benthocosm; North Atlantic; Plantae; Potamogeton perfoliatus; Ruppia maritima; Seagrass; Single species; Temperate; Tracheophyta; Event label; Species; Identification; Distance; Description; Proanthocyanidins; Proanthocyanidins, standard error; Phenolic acids, total; Phenolic acids, standard error; Gallic acid; Gallic acid, standard error; Syringaldehyde and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid; Syringaldehyde and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, standard error; Vanillin; Vanillin, standard error; Acetovanillone; Acetovanillone, standard error; Coumaric acid; Coumaric acid, standard error; Ferulic acid; Ferulic acid, standard error; Phenolics, all; Phenolics, all, standard error; Phenolics, reactive, total; Phenolics, reactive, total, standard error; Salinity; Salinity, standard error; Temperature, water; pH; pH, standard error; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air, standard error; Alkalinity, total; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.829532; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.829532

Rising atmospheric CO2 often triggers the production of plant phenolics, including many that serve as herbivore deterrents, digestion reducers, antimicrobials, or ultraviolet sunscreens. Such responses are predicted by popular models of plant defense, especially resource availability models which link carbon availability to phenolic biosynthesis. CO2 availability is also increasing in the oceans, where anthropogenic emissions cause ocean acidification, decreasing seawater pH and shifting the carbonate system towards further CO2 enrichment. Such conditions tend to increase seagrass productivity but may also increase rates of grazing on these marine plants. Here we show that high CO2 / low pH conditions of OA decrease, rather than increase, concentrations of phenolic protective substances in seagrasses and eurysaline marine plants. We observed a loss of simple and polymeric phenolics in the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa near a volcanic CO2 vent on the Island of Vulcano, Italy, where pH values decreased from 8.1 to ... : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Lavigne and Gattuso, 2011) was used to compute a complete and consistent set of carbonate system variables, as described by Nisumaa et al. (2010). In this dataset the original values were archived in addition with the recalculated parameters (see related PI). The date of carbonate chemistry calculation by seacarb is 2014-02-14. ...