Experiment: Marine fungi may benefit from ocean acidification

• Main Author: Krause, Evamaria
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2013
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; standard deviation; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; BIOACID; Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification; Bottle number; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (<20 L); Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Coast and continental shelf; Colony forming units; Community composition and diversity; DATE/TIME; Entire community; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Incubation duration; Laboratory experiment; North Atlantic; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; Replicate; Salinity; Temperate; Temperature; water; Treatment; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.831726; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.831726

Recent studies have discussed the consequences of ocean acidification for bacterial processes and diversity. However, the decomposition of complex substrates in marine environments, a key part of the flow of energy in ecosystems, is largely mediated by marine fungi. Although marine fungi have frequently been reported to prefer low pH levels, this group has been neglected in ocean acidification research. We present the first investigation of direct pH effects on marine fungal abundance and community structure. In microcosm experiments repeated in 2 consecutive years, we incubated natural North Sea water for 4 wk at in situ seawater pH (8.10 and 8.26), pH 7.82 and pH 7.67. Fungal abundance was determined by colony forming unit (cfu) counts, and fungal community structure was investigated by the culture-independent fingerprint method Fungal Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis (F-ARISA). Furthermore, pH at the study site was determined over a yearly cycle. Fungal cfu were on average 9 times higher at pH 7.82 and 34 times higher at pH 7.67 compared to in situ seawater pH, and we observed fungal community shifts predominantly at pH 7.67. Currently, surface seawater pH at Helgoland Roads remains >8.0 throughout the year; thus we cannot exclude that fungal responses may differ in regions regularly experiencing lower pH values. However, our results suggest that under realistic levels of ocean acidification, marine fungi will reach greater importance in marine biogeochemical cycles. The rise of this group of organisms will affect a variety of biotic interactions in the sea.