Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
Ocean acidification is expected to have a major effect on the marine carbonate system over the next century, particularly in high latitude seas. Less appreciated is natural environmental variation within these systems, particularly in terms of pH, and how this natural variation may inform laboratory...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4164564 2023-05-15T13:54:01+02:00 Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Matson, Paul G. Washburn, Libe Martz, Todd R. Hofmann, Gretchen E. 2014-09-15 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4164564 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25221950 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107239 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25221950 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107239 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2014 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107239 2014-09-21T01:04:48Z Ocean acidification is expected to have a major effect on the marine carbonate system over the next century, particularly in high latitude seas. Less appreciated is natural environmental variation within these systems, particularly in terms of pH, and how this natural variation may inform laboratory experiments. In this study, we deployed sensor-equipped moorings at 20 m depths at three locations in McMurdo Sound, comprising deep (bottom depth>200 m: Hut Point Peninsula) and shallow environments (bottom depth ∼25 m: Cape Evans and New Harbor). Our sensors recorded high-frequency variation in pH (Hut Point and Cape Evans only), tide (Cape Evans and New Harbor), and water mass properties (temperature and salinity) during spring and early summer 2011. These collective observations showed that (1) pH differed spatially both in terms of mean pH (Cape Evans: 8.009±0.015; Hut Point: 8.020±0.007) and range of pH (Cape Evans: 0.090; Hut Point: 0.036), and (2) pH was not related to the mixing of two water masses, suggesting that the observed pH variation is likely not driven by this abiotic process. Given the large daily fluctuation in pH at Cape Evans, we developed a simple mechanistic model to explore the potential for biotic processes – in this case algal photosynthesis – to increase pH by fixing carbon from the water column. For this model, we incorporated published photosynthetic parameters for the three dominant algal functional groups found at Cape Evans (benthic fleshy red macroalgae, crustose coralline algae, and sea ice algal communities) to estimate oxygen produced/carbon fixed from the water column underneath fast sea ice and the resulting pH change. These results suggest that biotic processes may be a primary driver of pH variation observed under fast sea ice at Cape Evans and potentially at other shallow sites in McMurdo Sound. Text Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Sound Ocean acidification Sea ice PubMed Central (PMC) Cape Evans ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) Hut Point ENVELOPE(166.850,166.850,-77.767,-77.767) Hut Point Peninsula ENVELOPE(166.850,166.850,-77.767,-77.767) McMurdo Sound New Harbor ENVELOPE(163.850,163.850,-77.600,-77.600) PLoS ONE 9 9 e107239 |
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Research Article |
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Research Article Matson, Paul G. Washburn, Libe Martz, Todd R. Hofmann, Gretchen E. Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Ocean acidification is expected to have a major effect on the marine carbonate system over the next century, particularly in high latitude seas. Less appreciated is natural environmental variation within these systems, particularly in terms of pH, and how this natural variation may inform laboratory experiments. In this study, we deployed sensor-equipped moorings at 20 m depths at three locations in McMurdo Sound, comprising deep (bottom depth>200 m: Hut Point Peninsula) and shallow environments (bottom depth ∼25 m: Cape Evans and New Harbor). Our sensors recorded high-frequency variation in pH (Hut Point and Cape Evans only), tide (Cape Evans and New Harbor), and water mass properties (temperature and salinity) during spring and early summer 2011. These collective observations showed that (1) pH differed spatially both in terms of mean pH (Cape Evans: 8.009±0.015; Hut Point: 8.020±0.007) and range of pH (Cape Evans: 0.090; Hut Point: 0.036), and (2) pH was not related to the mixing of two water masses, suggesting that the observed pH variation is likely not driven by this abiotic process. Given the large daily fluctuation in pH at Cape Evans, we developed a simple mechanistic model to explore the potential for biotic processes – in this case algal photosynthesis – to increase pH by fixing carbon from the water column. For this model, we incorporated published photosynthetic parameters for the three dominant algal functional groups found at Cape Evans (benthic fleshy red macroalgae, crustose coralline algae, and sea ice algal communities) to estimate oxygen produced/carbon fixed from the water column underneath fast sea ice and the resulting pH change. These results suggest that biotic processes may be a primary driver of pH variation observed under fast sea ice at Cape Evans and potentially at other shallow sites in McMurdo Sound. |
format |
Text |
author |
Matson, Paul G. Washburn, Libe Martz, Todd R. Hofmann, Gretchen E. |
author_facet |
Matson, Paul G. Washburn, Libe Martz, Todd R. Hofmann, Gretchen E. |
author_sort |
Matson, Paul G. |
title |
Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica |
title_short |
Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica |
title_full |
Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Abiotic versus Biotic Drivers of Ocean pH Variation under Fast Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica |
title_sort |
abiotic versus biotic drivers of ocean ph variation under fast sea ice in mcmurdo sound, antarctica |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4164564 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25221950 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107239 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) ENVELOPE(166.850,166.850,-77.767,-77.767) ENVELOPE(166.850,166.850,-77.767,-77.767) ENVELOPE(163.850,163.850,-77.600,-77.600) |
geographic |
Cape Evans Hut Point Hut Point Peninsula McMurdo Sound New Harbor |
geographic_facet |
Cape Evans Hut Point Hut Point Peninsula McMurdo Sound New Harbor |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Sound Ocean acidification Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Sound Ocean acidification Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25221950 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107239 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107239 |
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PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e107239 |
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1766259520329220096 |