Algae That Can Survive Climate Change

Source: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research

Date Published: Oct 20, 2014

URL: http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/10/20/2014/picture-of-the-week-phytoplankton.html?series=31

Summary:

Researchers from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, tested how well algae would survive in response to climate change. In particular, being exposed to certain ocean conditions such as increased temperatures and acidification resulting from rising levels of carbon dioxide. The type of algae was a species called Emiliania huxleyi—it can produce about 500 generations per year—that had already adapted to surviving high acidity levels. For a year they let them live in water with temperatures ranging from 59 degrees Fahrenheit--a little below the ocean’s average temperature--to a warm 79.3 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the hottest temperature it can still reproduce in. The researchers found out that the algae reproducing at higher temperatures were smaller—but also increased their growth rate by 16 percent. Also, the algae absorbed the same amount of carbon as algae under normal temperature conditions, despite their smaller size. The scientists also tried a "worst-case scenario" experiment: exposing algae that had not adapted to living in acidic water to both high temperatures and high acidity levels for a year. Thorsten Reusch, a marine ecologist at GEOMAR who oversaw the study, along with his team, discovered that the algae adapted as well as the specimens that had been exposed to one condition at a time (they absorbed slightly less carbon). The research suggests that E. huxleyi and other rapidly reproducing species might be able to adapt quickly enough to survive in extreme ocean conditions caused by climate change. 

Relevance: 

This experiment is very similar to the enzyme lab we just did. It involves treating something to a variety of conditions and trying to find out how it affects the performance or productivity of it. The algae experiment also demonstrates hypothesis-based science. The researchers wanted to find out how climate change affected algae. This was their question. They then simulated similar conditions in their tests in order to find out. They had multiple tests, and each one can be repeated. They had a group of algae already accustomed to high acidity levels, and one not. These were each one of their control groups; they used both of these types of algae in order to have something to compare their results or data to. They changed the acidity levels and temperature for each test, which were their independent variables. In the end, they found differences between the algae that reproduced at higher temperatures and the algae that didn't. The subject of their lab deals with how organisms can survive climate change, which is something we talked about briefly in our first unit on ecology in class. The conditions of the climate change that we are experiencing currently involve high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuels, and water becoming more acidic. In their experiment, the scientists tested mirrored these changes in the water to see how the algae would adapt.