This conclusion has been reached by scientists from the Marine Community Ecology and Conservation group at the University of Laguna who lead 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, the researchers have already detected the predominance of species of algae and small invertebrates in the areas studied.
The research has made use of a “revolutionary tool” for science called “Metabarcoding”, which combines massive sequencing with DNA barcoding.
This technique makes it possible to detect the real diversity of algae and marine invertebrates through the mitochondrial COI gene, without relying on the bias of the human eye.
The application of this DNA-based method favours highly reliable, standardised and replicable measurements for the assessment of the real biodiversity of an ecosystem, thus achieving a more realistic understanding of future changes, adds the academic centre.
The field part of this scientific study has been carried out at the Marine Observatory of Climate Change at the tip of Fuencaliente, on the island of La Palma, an enclave of the Canary Islands with an acidified system, a natural CO2 gradient that generates areas very similar to the future scenarios predicted by the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and generated by the excess of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
“It is as if we had the opportunity to observe today 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 previously undetected by traditional, visual sampling techniques, such as red caespitose algae or polychaetes.
Some of these species even have 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 such as crustose coralline algae and sponges, which support and shelter many species and are very characteristic of benthic ecosystems, disappear.
In conclusion, the researchers emphasise that subtropical benthic ecosystems will maintain high biodiversity values in a scenario of ocean acidification, although they will tend towards miniaturisation due to the predominance of small species of taprophic and epiphytic algae and associated small invertebrates.
This will lead to a homogenisation of the community with serious consequences in terms of large losses of ecosystem services, warn the researchers.
Canary Islands researchers determine the effects of acidification in oceans
Researchers at the University of La Laguna have determined that the acidification of the oceans caused by excessive levels of CO2 will lead to a small-scaling of marine benthic communities, i.e. in the future it will be small organisms that dominate the oceans.
This conclusion has been reached by scientists from the Marine Community Ecology and Conservation group at the University of Laguna who lead 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, the researchers have already detected the predominance of species of algae and small invertebrates in the areas studied.
The research has made use of a “revolutionary tool” for science called “Metabarcoding”, which combines massive sequencing with DNA barcoding.
This technique makes it possible to detect the real diversity of algae and marine invertebrates through the mitochondrial COI gene, without relying on the bias of the human eye.
The application of this DNA-based method favours highly reliable, standardised and replicable measurements for the assessment of the real biodiversity of an ecosystem, thus achieving a more realistic understanding of future changes, adds the academic centre.
The field part of this scientific study has been carried out at the Marine Observatory of Climate Change at the tip of Fuencaliente, on the island of La Palma, an enclave of the Canary Islands with an acidified system, a natural CO2 gradient that generates areas very similar to the future scenarios predicted by the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and generated by the excess of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
“It is as if we had the opportunity to observe today 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 previously undetected by traditional, visual sampling techniques, such as red caespitose algae or polychaetes.
Some of these species even have 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 such as crustose coralline algae and sponges, which support and shelter many species and are very characteristic of benthic ecosystems, disappear.
In conclusion, the researchers emphasise that subtropical benthic ecosystems will maintain high biodiversity values in a scenario of ocean acidification, although they will tend towards miniaturisation due to the predominance of small species of taprophic and epiphytic algae and associated small invertebrates.
This will lead to a homogenisation of the community with serious consequences in terms of large losses of ecosystem services, warn the researchers.