Comment on "The complex effects of ocean acidification on the prominent N2-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium"

David A Hutchins; Feixue Fu; Nathan G Walworth; Michael D Lee; Mak A Saito; Eric A Webb

doi:10.1126/science.aao0067

Comment on "The complex effects of ocean acidification on the prominent N₂-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium"

Science. 2017 Sep 15;357(6356):eaao0067. doi: 10.1126/science.aao0067.

Authors

David A Hutchins¹, Feixue Fu², Nathan G Walworth², Michael D Lee², Mak A Saito³, Eric A Webb²

Affiliations

¹ Marine and Environmental Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. dahutch@usc.edu.
² Marine and Environmental Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
³ Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.

PMID: 28912213
DOI: 10.1126/science.aao0067

Abstract

Hong et al (Reports, 5 May 2017, p. 527) suggested that previous studies of the biogeochemically significant marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium showing increased growth and nitrogen fixation at projected future high CO₂ levels suffered from ammonia or copper toxicity. They reported that these rates instead decrease at high CO₂ when contamination is alleviated. We present and discuss results of multiple published studies refuting this toxicity hypothesis.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Cyanobacteria*
Nitrogen Fixation / drug effects
Oceans and Seas
Trichodesmium*