The effect of nitrate and phosphate availability on Emiliania huxleyi (NZEH) physiology under different CO2 scenarios

• Published in: Frontiers in Microbiology
• Main Authors: Rouco, Monica, Branson, Oscar, Lebrato, Mario, Iglesias-Rodriguez, M. Debora
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media 2013
• Subjects: Emiliania huxleyi; Ocean acidification; Nutrients; Alkaline phosphatase; Nitrate reductase; Calcification
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/6493

© The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Frontiers in Microbiology 4 (2013): 155, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2013.00155. Growth and calcification of the marine coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi is affected by ocean acidification and macronutrients limitation and its response varies between strains. Here we investigated the physiological performance of a highly calcified E. huxleyi strain, NZEH, in a multiparametric experiment. Cells were exposed to different CO2 levels (ranging from 250 to 1314 μatm) under three nutrient conditions [nutrient replete (R), nitrate limited (-N), and phosphate limited (-P)]. We focused on calcite and organic carbon quotas and on nitrate and phosphate utilization by analyzing the activity of nitrate reductase (NRase) and alkaline phosphatase (APase), respectively. Particulate inorganic (PIC) and organic (POC) carbon quotas increased with increasing CO2 under R conditions but a different pattern was observed under nutrient limitation. The PIC:POC ratio decreased with increasing CO2 in nutrient limited cultures. Coccolith length increased with CO2 under all nutrient conditions but the coccosphere volume varied depending on the nutrient treatment. Maximum APase activity was found at 561 μatm of CO2 (pH 7.92) in -P cultures and in R conditions, NRase activity increased linearly with CO2. These results suggest that E. huxleyi's competitive ability for nutrient uptake might be altered in future high-CO2 oceans. The combined dataset will be useful in model parameterizations of the carbon cycle and ocean acidification. This research was supported by the “European Project on Ocean Acidification” (EPOCA) which received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 211384. This work was also funded in part by The European Research Council (ERC grant 2010-ADG-267931 to Harry Elderfield) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and ...