Ocean acidification increases the accumulation of toxic phenolic compounds across trophic levels

• Main Authors: Jin, Peng, Wang, Tifeng, Liu, Nana, Dupont, Sam, Beardall, John, Boyd, Philip W, Riebesell, Ulf, Gao, Kunshan
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Chromista; Emiliania huxleyi; EXP; Experiment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Haptophyta; Immunology/Self-protection; Laboratory experiment; Laboratory strains; Mesocosm or benthocosm; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; Phenolics; all; per individual; Phytoplankton; Potentiometric; Registration number of species; Replicate; Respiration; Respiration rate; oxygen; per cell; Salinity; Single species; Species; Temperature; water; Treatment; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.860293; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860293

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations are causing ocean acidification (OA), altering carbonate chemistry with consequences for marine organisms. Here we show that OA increases by 46-212% the production of phenolic compounds in phytoplankton grown under the elevated CO2 concentrations projected for the end of this century, compared with the ambient CO2 level. At the same time, mitochondrial respiration rate is enhanced under elevated CO2 concentrations by 130-160% in a single species or mixed phytoplankton assemblage. When fed with phytoplankton cells grown under OA, zooplankton assemblages have significantly higher phenolic compound content, by about 28-48%. The functional consequences of the increased accumulation of toxic phenolic compounds in primary and secondary producers have the potential to have profound consequences for marine ecosystem and seafood quality, with the possibility that fishery industries could be influenced as a result of progressive ocean changes.