Warming and microplastic pollution shape the carbon and nitrogen cycles of algae

Abstract

Oceans absorb most excess heat from anthropogenic activities, leading to ocean warming. Moreover, microplastic pollution from anthropogenic activities is serious in marine environments and is accessible to various organisms. However, the combined effects of environmentally realistic ocean warming and microplastic pollution (OW+MP) on dominant marine species phytoplankton and related biochemical cycles are unclear. We investigated the combined effects on the dominant genera of diatoms (Chaetoceros gracilis, C. gracilis) over 100 generations. As a biological adjustment strategy, the growth rates of C. gracilis were nonsignificantly changed by OW+MP, body size decreased, and the chlorophyll a (Chl a) content and photosynthetic efficiency significantly decreased by 32.5% and 10.86%, respectively. The OW+MP condition inhibited carbon and nitrogen assimilation and sequestration capacity and allocated carbon into flexible forms of carbohydrates instead of proteins. Furthermore, the decrease in Si:C and Si:N ratios affected carbon transport to both the mesopelagic layer and deep ocean. Integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics showed that OW+MP disturbed ribosome and nitrogen metabolism. Given the rising concurrence of warming and MP pollution, the changes in metabolism suggest that the covariation in carbon, nitrogen and silicon biochemical cycles and the hidden influence on biodiversity and food web changes in the ocean should be reconsidered.