Trends in tuna carbon isotopes suggest global changes in pelagic phytoplankton communities

Considerable uncertainty remains into how increasing atmospheric CO₂ and anthropogenic climate changes are affecting open-ocean marine ecosystems from phytoplankton to top predators. Biological time series data are thus urgently needed for the world’s oceans. Here, we use the carbon stable isotope composition of tuna to provide a first insight into the existence of global trends in complex ecosystem dynamics and changes in the oceanic carbon cycle. From 2000 to 2015, considerable declines in δ¹³C values of 0.8 to 2.5‰ were observed across three tuna species sampled globally, with more substantial changes in the Pacific Ocean compared to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Tunas not only recorded the Suess effect, i.e. fossil fuel-derived and isotopically-light carbon being incorporated into marine ecosystems, but also profound changes at the base of marine food webs. We suggest a global shift in phytoplankton community structure, e.g. a reduction of ¹³C-rich phytoplankton such as diatoms, and/or a change in phytoplankton physiology during this period, while this does not prevent other concomitant changes at higher levels in the food webs. Our study establishes tuna δ¹³C values as a candidate essential ocean variable to assess complex ecosystem responses to climate change at regional to global scales and over decadal timescales. Finally, this time-series will be invaluable in calibrating and validating global earth system models to project changes in marine biota.