Biological Contribution of VOCs in a Warming Ocean: Observations from a Coastal Mesocosm Experiment

Sarah Amiri, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, Jonathan S Sauer, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, Alexia N Moore, University of California San Diego, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, La Jolla, United States, Julie Dinasquet, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States, Gordon Novak, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, United States and Kimberly A Prather, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, United States
Abstract:
Abstract: With a growing interest in better understanding the global budgets of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) from marine systems and their contributions to air-sea exchange, there is increasing importance in identifying biological processes in the laboratory through an ecologically relevant lens. While the usage of phytoplankton and bacterial monocultures to understand gas measurements are informative and important, they struggle to account for larger community interactions in the marine environment. To meet this challenge, a large laboratory mesocosm experiment was conducted to assess: 1) the spatial and temporal production of headspace and dissolved VOCs from a wave flume filled with 3,400 gallons of natural seawater, and 2) identify the relative abundance and cells/L of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton over the progression of a bloom. Later measurements from the Betram group were conducted to compare trace gas flux measurements off Scripps Pier along with biological oceanographic sampling. Early results for the mesocosm experiment indicate that Phaeocystis sp., Synococcus sp., Pseudo-nitzschia sp., and Emiliana huxleyi were the most abundant blooming species throughout the bloom and were resilient to warmer temperatures and fluctuations in pH. Short lived pulses of DMS, isoprene, and monoterpene are well matched with variances in blooming phytoplankton in tandem with potential consumption/production from bacterioplankton.
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