Experiments to Determine the Impacts of a High CO2 World on High Latitude, Temperate and Tropical Benthic Foraminifera

鉴于海洋二氧化碳分压的增加以及上个世纪大气二氧化碳增加造成的海洋酸化，海洋生态系统的健康正处于危险之中。因为可以说钙化动物群特别容易受到海洋化学变化的影响，珊瑚礁生态系统最近在这方面受到了许多审查。然而，对高纬度生态系统进行类似的研究可能同样重要，因为这些地区的低温会对钙化产生负面影响，并增强对大气中二氧化碳的吸收。因此，了解二氧化碳增加和海洋酸化对海洋动物的影响的尝试将合理地针对热带珊瑚礁和浅水高纬度分类群。确定这些海洋动物对二氧化碳分压升高的反应的一种方法是进行实验，在其他环境参数保持不变的情况下，对碳酸盐系统进行控制和监测。这个项目的总体目标是通过这样的实验来确定，如果预测的海洋表面二氧化碳分压的增加，与观测到的和预测的大气二氧化碳的增加相关联，对底栖有孔虫来说是致命的。选择这个原生生物分类群主要是因为它包括钙化和非钙化形式，并且在所有纬度都普遍存在。为了解决海洋酸化的区域性影响，实验将包括来自高纬度、温带和热带浅底栖环境的有孔虫物种；这些地点包括瑞典峡湾，科德角大陆斜坡上的沉积物集中区域，以及佛罗里达州的珊瑚礁。更广泛的影响包括开展综合研究，以评估区域对二氧化碳分压升高和海洋酸化的反应，这有助于预测未来的生态系统动态。此外，该项目包括来自WHOI、南佛罗里达大学和Göteborg大学（瑞典）的研究人员，为研究生和本科生以及当地高中生提供了多种教育途径。

The well being of marine ecosystems is in peril given the increase in oceanic pCO2 and ocean acidification resulting from the rise in atmospheric CO2 over the last century. Because it can be argued that calcifying fauna are particularly vulnerable to these changes in ocean chemistry, coral reef ecosystems have received much recent scrutiny in this regard. It may, however, be equally important to similarly study high-latitude ecosystems because the low temperatures of those regions negatively affect calcification and enhance the uptake of atmospheric CO2. Thus, attempts to understand the effects of CO2 increase and ocean acidification on marine faunas would reasonably target both tropical reef and shallow-water, high-latitude taxa. One way to determine the response of such marine fauna to elevated pCO2 is to perform experiments where the carbonate system is manipulated and monitored while other environmental parameters are held constant. The overall goal of this project is to determine through such experimentation if the predicted increase in surface ocean pCO2, associated with observed and predicted increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, will be lethal to benthic foraminifera. This protistan taxon is selected mainly because it includes calcifying and noncalcifying forms and is ubiquitous at all latitudes. To address regional effects of ocean acidification, experimentation will include foraminiferal species from high latitude, temperate, and tropical shallow benthic environments; the sites include a Swedish fjord, a sediment-focus area on the continental slope off Cape Cod, and a Florida coral reef. The broader impacts include developing integrated studies to assess regional responses to elevated pCO2 and ocean acidification useful for predictions of future ecosystem dynamics. In addition, this project, which includes investigators from WHOI, the University of South Florida, and Göteborg University (Sweden), has multiple avenues for education to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as local high school students.