Santa Cruz de Tenerife (EFE).- Researchers from the University of La Laguna have determined that ocean acidification produced by excess CO2 will generate a miniaturization of marine benthic communities, that is, in the future they will be small organisms size those that dominate the oceans.
This conclusion has been reached by scientists from the Ecology of Marine Communities and Conservation group at the University of Laguna who are leading a study, in which researchers from the universities of Barcelona and Liverpool also collaborate, entitled “High Taxonomic Diversity And Miniaturization In Benthic Communities Under Persistent Natural CO2 Disturbances”.
The study has been published in the scientific journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B” and, according to the University of La Laguna, researchers have already detected the predominance of species of algae and small invertebrates in the areas studied.
For the research, use has been made of a “revolutionary tool” for science called “Metabarcoding”, which mixes massive sequencing with DNA barcoding.
This technique makes it possible to detect the true diversity of marine algae and invertebrates through the COI mitochondrial gene, without relying on the bias of the human eye.
The application of this DNA-based method favors very reliable, standardized and replicable measurements for the evaluation of the real biodiversity of an ecosystem, thus achieving a more realistic understanding of future changes, adds the academic center.
The field part of this scientific study has been carried out at the Marine Observatory for Climate Change at Punta de Fuencaliente, on the island of La Palma, an enclave in the Canary Islands with an acidified system, a natural CO2 gradient that generates zones very similar to the future scenarios predicted by the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel for the Study of Climate Change (IPCC) and generated by the excess of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
“It is as if we had the opportunity today to observe the different scenarios that await us due to ocean acidification,” explains José Carlos Hernández, a marine biologist at the University of La Laguna.
There are only two other volcanic areas in the world with similar characteristics, the island of Ischia in the Mediterranean Sea and Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, which is why they are considered areas of great scientific interest.
The researchers also discovered high levels of taxonomic diversity in the acidified areas, which is mainly due to the presence of small, cryptic species that previously went undetected with traditional and visual sampling techniques, such as red tussock algae or polychaetes. .
Some of these species even possess calcified skeletons or shells, such as small molluscs and echinoderms, indicating that they may be adapting to future conditions predicted by the IPCC.
However, although there is an increase in taxonomic diversity, there is a decrease in functional diversity, because with acidification, important species for the ecosystem disappear, such as crusty coralline algae and sponges that support and shelter many species and are very characteristics of benthic ecosystems.
In conclusion, the researchers highlight that subtropical benthic ecosystems will maintain high biodiversity values in a scenario of ocean acidification, although they will tend towards miniaturization due to the predominance of small species of epiphytic and carpet algae, and small associated invertebrates.
This will cause a homogenization of the community with serious consequences by causing great losses of ecosystem services, warn the researchers. EFE