Thermal plasticity of growth and chain formation of the dinoflagellates Alexandrium affine and Alexandrium pacificum with respect to ocean acidification

The amount of CO2 absorbed by the oceans continues to rise, resulting in further acidification, altering some functional traits of phytoplankton. To understand the effect of elevated partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2) on functional traits of dinoflagellates Alexandrium affine and A. pacificum, the cardinal temperatures and chain formation extent were examined under two pCO2 (400 and 1,000 μatm) over the range of temperature expected to be associated with growth. The growth rate and chain formation extent of A. affine increased with higher pCO2, showing significant changes in cardinal temperatures and a substantial increase in middle chain-length (4‒8 cells) fractionation under elevated pCO2 condition. By contrast, there were no significant differences in specific growth rate and any chain-length fractionation of A. pacificum between ambient and elevated pCO2 conditions. The observed interspecies variation in the functional traits may reflect differences in ability of species to respond to environmental change with plasticity. Moreover, it allows us to understand the shifting biogeography of marine phytoplankton and predict their phenology in the Korea Strait.