查看文章

The oceans have absorbed nearly half of the fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted into the atmosphere since pre-industrial times, causing a measurable reduction in seawater pH and carbonate saturation. If CO₂ emissions continue to rise at current rates, upper-ocean pH will decrease to levels lower than have existed for tens of millions of years and, critically, at a rate of change 100 times greater than at any time over this period. Recent studies have shown effects of ocean acidification on a variety of marine life forms, in particular calcifying organisms^,,. Consequences at the community to ecosystem level, in contrast, are largely unknown. Here we show that dissolved inorganic carbon consumption of a natural plankton community maintained in mesocosm enclosures at initial CO₂ partial pressures of 350, 700 and 1,050 μatm increases with rising CO₂. The community consumed up to 39% more dissolved …