Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

These data are unprocessed counts of the E. huxleyi cells ingested by each Favella or Oxyrrhis grazer.

Related Datasets:
Grazing experiments 2 and 3: cell volume
Grazing experiments 2 and 3: CN data
Grazing experiments 2 and 3: daily cell counts
Grazing experiments 2 and 3: pCO2

Related Reference:
Kendall, K., Marine Microzooplankton are Indirectly Affected by Ocean Acidification Through Direct Effects on Their Phytoplankton Prey. (Masters Thesis) Western Washington University.
http://cedar.wwu.edu/wwuet/448/

The phytoplankton Emiliania huxleyi CCMP 2668 was grown semi-continuously in atmosphere controlled chambers at three different CO2 treatment concentrations; Ambient (400ppmv), Moderate (750ppmv), and High (1000ppmv). Cultures were diluted daily starting day 4 with pre-equilibrated media containing f/50 nutrients.

Expt. 2: On day 10, after ~ 20 generations, E. huxleyi cells from the treatments were fed to starved Favella taraikaensis cells for 15, 30 and 45 minutes. During each sampling time point, 20 mls of experiment volume was removed, fixed with glutaraldehyde and stained with DAPI. This volume was filtered onto a 20 µm pore size polycarbonate filter with, which was then put on a slide with immersion oil and kept frozen until evaluation.

Expt. 3: On day 10, after ~ 20 generations, E. huxleyi cells from the treatments were fed to starved Oxyrrhis marina cells for 30, 60 and 90 minutes. During each sampling time point, 20 mls of experiment volume was removed, fixed with glutaraldehyde and stained with DAPI. This volume was filtered onto a 10 µm pore size polycarbonate filter with, which was then put on a slide with immersion oil and kept frozen until evaluation.

Slides were evaluated under 1000x oil immersion using an epi-fluorescent microscope under blue-light excitation. The first 100 microzooplankton on each slide were assessed for each replicate/treatment, and individual prey cell were counted in the grazer food vacuole.

BCO-DMO Processing:
- added conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
- column names reformatted to comply with BCO-DMO standards
- transformed table columns to rows
- nd (no data) was entered into all blank cells
- experiments 2 and 3 data were concatenated into one data set
- sorted data by experiment and treatment

Description from NSF award abstract:
The calcifying Haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi appears to be acutely sensitive to the rising concentration of ocean pCO2. Documented responses by E. huxleyi to elevated pCO2 include modifications to their calcification rate and cell size, malformation of coccoliths, elevated growth rates, increased organic carbon production, lowering of PIC:POC ratios, and elevated production of the active climate gas DMS. Changes in these parameters are mechanisms known to elicit alterations in grazing behavior by microzooplankton, the oceans dominant grazer functional group. The investigators hypothesize that modifications to the physiology and biochemistry of calcifying and non-calcifying Haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi in response to elevated pCO2 will precipitate alterations in microzooplankton grazing dynamics. To test this hypothesis, they will conduct controlled laboratory experiments where several strains of E. huxleyi are grown at several CO2 concentrations. After careful characterization of the biochemical and physiological responses of the E. huxleyi strains to elevated pCO2, they will provide these strains as food to several ecologically-important microzooplankton and document grazing dynamics. E. huxleyi is an ideal organism for the study of phytoplankton and microzooplankton responses to rising anthropogenic CO2, the effects of which in the marine environment are called ocean acidification; E. huxleyi is biogeochemically important, is well studied, numerous strains are in culture that exhibit variation in the parameters described above, and they are readily fed upon by ecologically important microzooplankton.

The implications of changes in microzooplankton grazing for carbon cycling, specifically CaCO3 export, DMS production, nutrient regeneration in surface waters, and carbon transfer between trophic levels are profound, as this grazing, to a large degree, regulates all these processes. E. huxleyi is a model prey organism because it is one of the most biogeochemically influential global phytoplankton. It forms massive seasonal blooms, contributes significantly to marine inorganic and organic carbon cycles, is a large producer of the climatically active gas DMS, and is a source of organic matter for trophic levels both above and below itself. The planned controlled study will increase our knowledge of the mechanisms that drive patterns of change between trophic levels, thus providing a wider array of tools necessary to understand the complex nature of ocean acidification field studies, where competing variables can confound precise interpretation.