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Abstract

Ocean acidification (OA) will affect marine biotas from the organism to the ecosystem level. Yet, the consequences for the biological carbon pump and thereby the oceanic sink for atmospheric CO2 are still unclear. Here we show that OA considerably alters the C/N ratio of organic-matter export (C/Nexport), a key factor determining efficiency of the biological pump. By synthesizing sediment-trap data from in situ mesocosm studies in different marine biomes, we find distinct but highly variable impacts of OA on C/Nexport, reaching up to a 20% increase/decrease under partial pressure of CO2effects on a variety of plankton taxa and corresponding shifts in food-web structure. Notably, our findings suggest a pivotal role of heterotrophic processes in controlling the response of C/Nexport to OA, thus contradicting the paradigm of primary producers as the principal driver of biogeochemical responses to ocean change.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Taucher, J and Boxhammer, T and Bach, LT and Paul, AJ and Schartau, M and Stange, P and Riebesell, U
Keywords:	ocean acidification, biological pump, stoichiometry
Journal or Publication Title:	Nature Climate Change
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:	1758-678X
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00915-5
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2020 The Authors, under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited
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