Abstract
Global climate change has the potential to seriously and adversely affect marine ecosystem functioning. Numerous experimental and modeling studies have demonstrated how predicted ocean acidification and increased ultraviolet radiation (UVR) can affect marine microbes. However, researchers have largely ignored interactions between ocean acidification, increased UVR and anthropogenic pollutants in marine environments. Such interactions can alter chemical speciation and the bioavailability of several organic and inorganic pollutants with potentially deleterious effects, such as modifying microbial-mediated detoxification processes. Microbes mediate major biogeochemical cycles, providing fundamental ecosystems services such as environmental detoxification and recovery. It is, therefore, important that we understand how predicted changes to oceanic pH, UVR, and temperature will affect microbial pollutant detoxification processes in marine ecosystems. The intrinsic characteristics of microbes, such as their short generation time, small size, and functional role in biogeochemical cycles combined with recent advances in molecular techniques (e.g., metagenomics and metatranscriptomics) make microbes excellent models to evaluate the consequences of various climate change scenarios on detoxification processes in marine ecosystems. In this review, we highlight the importance of microbial microcosm experiments, coupled with high-resolution molecular biology techniques, to provide a critical experimental framework to start understanding how climate change, anthropogenic pollution, and microbiological interactions may affect marine ecosystems in the future.
Highlights
Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased from approximately 280 ppm in preindustrial times (Inderm€uhle et al 1999) to nearly 394 ppm in 2012 (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, 2012)
The aim of this review is to present the recent advances in our understanding of the consequences of interactions between ocean acidification, increased ultraviolet radiation (UVR), anthropogenic pollutants, and marine microbial communities
There are some major technical challenges that still need to be met with respect to reliable and replicable integrated approaches to simulate predicted climate change scenarios and evaluate how they will affect the toxicity of pollutants and the functioning of microbial communities
Summary
Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased from approximately 280 ppm (parts per million) in preindustrial times (Inderm€uhle et al 1999) to nearly 394 ppm in 2012 (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, 2012). The best known postulated consequence of an increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is global warming, which may, among other things, lead to sea level changes, promote ocean stratification, and alter the sea-ice extent and patterns of ocean circulation (Doney et al 2012). In addition to the above, increased atmospheric CO2 will lead to a net air-to-sea flux of CO2, thereby reducing seawater pH and modifying the chemical balance among inorganic carbon species. This process, known as ocean acidification, is often referred to as “the other CO2 problem” (Henderson 2006). In contrast to other climate change scenarios, ocean acidification is a direct consequence of increased atmospheric CO2 and does not depend on uncertainties related to other climate change predictions (Doney et al 2009)
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