Direct Linkage between Dimethyl Sulfide Production and Microzooplankton Grazing, Resulting from Prey Composition Change under High Partial Pressure of Carbon Dioxide Conditions

• Published in: Environmental Science & Technology
• Main Authors: Park, Ki-Tae, Lee, Kitack, Shin, Kyoungsoon, Yang, Eun Jin, Hyun, Bonggil, Kim, Ja-Myung, Noh, Jae Hoon, Kim, Miok, Kong, Bokyung, Choi, Dong Han, Choi, Su-Jin, Jang, Pung-Guk, Jeong, Hae Jin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Chemical Society 2020
• Subjects: OCEAN ACIDIFICATION; EMILIANIA-HUXLEYI; DIMETHYLSULFONIOPROPIONATE DMSP; PERTURBATION EXPERIMENTS; MESOCOSM EXPERIMENT; SULFUR EMISSIONS; NORTH-SEA; PHYTOPLANKTON; DIMETHYLSULPHONIOPROPIONATE; VOLUME; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10371/192695; https://doi.org/10.1021/es403351h

Oceanic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is the enzymatic cleavage product of the algal metabolite dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and is the most abundant form of sulfur released into the atmosphere. To investigate the effects of two emerging environmental threats (ocean acidification and warming) on marine DMS production, we performed a large-scale perturbation experiment in a coastal environment. At both ambient temperature and similar to 2 degrees C warmer, an increase in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO(2)) in seawater (160-830 ppmv pCO(2)) favored the growth of large diatoms, which outcompeted other phytoplankton species in a natural phytoplankton assemblage and reduced the growth rate of smaller, DMSP-rich phototrophic dinoflagellates. This decreased the grazing rate of heterotrophic dinoflagellates (ubiquitous micrograzers), resulting in reduced DMS production via grazing activity. Both the magnitude and sign of the effect of pCO(2) on possible future oceanic DMS production were strongly linked to pCO(2)-induced alterations to the phytoplankton community and the cellular DMSP content of the dominant species and its association with micrograzers. N 1