title: Warming and Elevated CO2 Interact to Drive Rapid Shifts in Marine Community Production.
abstract: Predicting the outcome of future climate change requires an understanding of how alterations in multiple environmental factors manifest in natural communities and affect ecosystem functioning. We conducted an in situ, fully factorial field manipulation of CO2 and temperature on a rocky shoreline in southeastern Alaska, USA. Warming strongly impacted functioning of tide pool systems within one month, with the rate of net community production (NCP) more than doubling in warmed pools under ambient CO2 levels relative to initial NCP values. However, in pools with added CO2, NCP was unaffected by warming. Productivity responses paralleled changes in the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of a red alga, the most abundant primary producer species in the system, highlighting the direct link between physiology and ecosystem functioning. These observed changes in algal physiology and community productivity in response to our manipulations indicate the potential for natural systems to shift rapidly in response to changing climatic conditions and for multiple environmental factors to act antagonistically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 321 Steinhaus Hall, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California 92697-2525, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cascade J B
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Sorte
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 321 Steinhaus Hall, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California 92697-2525, United States of America.
authors.forename: Matthew E S
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bracken
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D057231:Climate Change; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D018869:Heat-Shock Response; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide