Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are expanding due to increased sea surface temperatures, subsequent increased oxygen demand through respiration, reduced oxygen solubility, and thermal stratification driven in part by anthropogenic climate change. Devil's Hole, Bermuda is a model ecosystem to study OMZ microbial biogeochemistry because the formation and subsequent overturn of the suboxic zone occur annually. During thermally driven stratification, suboxic conditions develop, with organic matter and nutrients accumulating at depth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series (GNATS) has been run since 1998, across the Gulf of Maine (GoM), between Maine and Nova Scotia. GNATS goals are to provide ocean color satellite validation and to examine change in this coastal ecosystem. We have sampled hydrographical, biological, chemical, biogeochemical, and bio-optical variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModern reef-building corals sustain a wide range of ecosystem services because of their ability to build calcium carbonate reef systems. The influence of environmental variables on coral calcification rates has been extensively studied, but our understanding of their relative importance is limited by the absence of in situ observations and the ability to decouple the interactions between different properties. We show that temperature is the primary driver of coral colony ( and ) and reef-scale calcification rates over a 2-year monitoring period from the Bermuda coral reef.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) has acidified open-ocean surface waters by 0.1 pH units since preindustrial times. Despite unequivocal evidence of ocean acidification (OA) via open-ocean measurements for the past several decades, it has yet to be documented in near-shore and coral reef environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoccolithophores are an important component of the Earth system, and, as calcifiers, their possible susceptibility to ocean acidification is of major concern. Laboratory studies at enhanced pCO(2) levels have produced divergent results without overall consensus. However, it has been predicted from these studies that, although calcification may not be depressed in all species, acidification will produce "a transition in dominance from more to less heavily calcified coccolithophores" [Ridgwell A, et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF