Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 6 9 2009 10.5194/bg-6-1865-2009 http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1865/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1865/2009/bg-6-1865-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1865/2009/bg-6-1865-2009.pdf 1865 1875 2009-09-04 Influence of elevated CO₂ concentrations on cell division and nitrogen fixation rates in the bloom-forming cyanobacterium <i>Nodularia spumigena</i> J. Czerny jczerny@ifm-geomar.de J. Barcelos e Ramos U. Riebesell Leibniz Institute of Marine Science, IFM-GEOMAR, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel, Germany The surface ocean absorbs large quantities of the CO₂ emitted to the atmosphere from human activities. As this CO₂ dissolves in seawater, it reacts to form carbonic acid. While this phenomenon, called ocean acidification, has been found to adversely affect many calcifying organisms, some photosynthetic organisms appear to benefit from increasing [CO₂]. Among these is the cyanobacterium <i>Trichodesmium</i>, a predominant diazotroph (nitrogen-fixing) in large parts of the oligotrophic oceans, which responded with increased carbon and nitrogen fixation at elevated <i>p</i>CO₂. With the mechanism underlying this CO₂ stimulation still unknown, the question arises whether this is a common response of diazotrophic cyanobacteria. In this study we therefore investigate the physiological response of <i>Nodularia spumigena</i>, a heterocystous bloom-forming diazotroph of the Baltic Sea, to CO₂-induced changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. <i>N. spumigena</i> reacted to seawater acidification/carbonation with reduced cell division rates and nitrogen fixation rates, accompanied by significant changes in carbon and phosphorus quota and elemental composition of the formed biomass. Possible explanations for the contrasting physiological responses of <i>Nodularia</i> compared to <i>Trichodesmium</i> may be found in the different ecological strategies of non-heterocystous (<i>Trichodesmium</i>) and heterocystous (<i>Nodularia</i>) cyanobacteria. % vor jede Referenz Allen, M. M.: Cyanobacterial cell inclusions, Annu. Rev. Microbiol., 38, 1–25, 1984. Arrigo, K. R.: Marine microorganisms and global nutrient cycles, Nature, 437, 349–355, 2005. Badger, M. R., Price, G. D., Long, B. M., and Woodger, F. J.: The environmental plasticity and ecological genomics of the cyanobacterial CO₂ concentrating mechanism, J. Exp. Bot., 57, 259–265, 2005. Barcelos e Ramos, J., Biswas, H., Schulz, K. G., La Roche, J., and Riebesell, U.: Effect of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on the marine nitrogen fixer \textitTrichodesmium, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 21, 2028, doi:2010.1029/2006GB002898, 2007. 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