Langer, Julia A. F., Sharma, Rahul, Schmidt, Susanne I., Bahrdt, Sebastian, Horn, Henriette G., Alguero-Muniz, Maria, Nam, Bora, Achterberg, Eric P. , Riebesell, Ulf , Boersma, Maarten, Thines, Marco and Schwenk, Klaus (2017) Community barcoding reveals little effect of ocean acidification on the composition of coastal plankton communities: evidence from a long-term mesocosm study in the Gullmar Fjord, Skagerrak. PLoS ONE, 12 (4). e0175808. DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0175808.

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Abstract

The acidification of the oceans could potentially alter marine plankton communities with consequences
for ecosystem functioning. While several studies have investigated effects of
ocean acidification on communities using traditional methods, few have used genetic analyses.
Here, we use community barcoding to assess the impact of ocean acidification on the
composition of a coastal plankton community in a large scale, in situ, long-term mesocosm
experiment. High-throughput sequencing resulted in the identification of a wide range of
planktonic taxa (Alveolata, Cryptophyta, Haptophyceae, Fungi, Metazoa, Hydrozoa, Rhizaria,
Straminipila, Chlorophyta). Analyses based on predicted operational taxonomical
units as well as taxonomical compositions revealed no differences between communities in
high CO2 mesocosms (~ 760 μatm) and those exposed to present-day CO2 conditions.
Observed shifts in the planktonic community composition were mainly related to seasonal
changes in temperature and nutrients. Furthermore, based on our investigations, the elevated
CO2 did not affect the intraspecific diversity of the most common mesozooplankter,
the calanoid copepod Pseudocalanus acuspes. Nevertheless, accompanying studies found
temporary effects attributed to a raise in CO2. Differences in taxa composition between the
CO2 treatments could, however, only be observed in a specific period of the experiment.
Based on our genetic investigations, no compositional long-term shifts of the plankton communities
exposed to elevated CO2 conditions were observed. Thus, we conclude that the
compositions of planktonic communities, especially those in coastal areas, remain rather
unaffected by increased CO2.

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