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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Nature Communications

Abrupt pH changes overestimate the responses of Chaetoceros muelleri to ocean acidification

  • Xin Zhao1,2
  • Hanxi Tan1
  • Xu Zhang1
  • Dong Xu3
  • Zhaowen Hu4
  • Jiazhen Sun5
  • Shanlin Wang1
  • Kunshan Gao1
  • Tianze Zheng1
  • Xin Lin1
  • Thomas Mock6,7
  • Naihao Ye3
1 more authors
  • Guang Gao1,2
7 affiliations
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
  2. 2Fujian Ocean Innovation Center, Xiamen, China
  3. 3State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Biobreeding and Sustainable Goods, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, China
  4. 4Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
  5. 5National Biopesticide Engineering Research Centre, Hubei Biopesticide Engineering Research Centre, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China
  6. 6School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
  7. 7College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
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Abstract

Ocean acidification, characterized by a gradual seawater pH decline, influences marine primary producers such as diatoms, which contribute substantially to oceanic carbon fixation. Experimental studies aiming to project climate change impacts often simulate acidification via abrupt pH shifts, potentially misrepresenting ecological and evolutionary responses. Here we conduct a long-term evolution experiment with the marine diatom Chaetoceros muelleri, comparing abrupt and gradual CO2 increases from 440 to 1000 ppm over 1100 generations. Integrating evolutionary genomics, physiological assays, elemental stoichiometry, and Earth System Modeling, we find that abrupt acidification exaggerates diatom growth and carbon fixation responses by up to 15%, driven by enhanced divergent genomic signals and persistent gene expression changes. Gradual acidification elicits weaker phenotypic and genomic shifts, aligning more closely with natural ocean conditions. These findings suggest that models based on abrupt CO2 increases may overestimate the contribution of Chaetoceros muelleri and maybe also other diatoms to productivity and biogeochemical cycling under ocean acidification, highlighting the importance of gradual pH decline in experimental designs to accurately predict marine ecosystem responses.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhao2026abrupt,
  title = {{Abrupt pH changes overestimate the responses of Chaetoceros muelleri to ocean acidification}},
  author = {Xin Zhao and Hanxi Tan and Xu Zhang and Dong Xu and Zhaowen Hu and Jiazhen Sun and Shanlin Wang and Kunshan Gao and Tianze Zheng and Xin Lin and Thomas Mock and Naihao Ye and Guang Gao},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-77753-0},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77753-0},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Abrupt pH changes overestimate the responses of Chaetoceros muelleri to ocean acidification
AU  - Xin Zhao
AU  - Hanxi Tan
AU  - Xu Zhang
AU  - Dong Xu
AU  - Zhaowen Hu
AU  - Jiazhen Sun
AU  - Shanlin Wang
AU  - Kunshan Gao
AU  - Tianze Zheng
AU  - Xin Lin
AU  - Thomas Mock
AU  - Naihao Ye
AU  - Guang Gao
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/24
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-77753-0
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77753-0
AB  - Ocean acidification, characterized by a gradual seawater pH decline, influences marine primary producers such as diatoms, which contribute substantially to oceanic carbon fixation. Experimental studies aiming to project climate change impacts often simulate acidification via abrupt pH shifts, potentially misrepresenting ecological and evolutionary responses. Here we conduct a long-term evolution experiment with the marine diatom Chaetoceros muelleri, comparing abrupt and gradual CO2 increases from 440 to 1000 ppm over 1100 generations. Integrating evolutionary genomics, physiological assays, elemental stoichiometry, and Earth System Modeling, we find that abrupt acidification exaggerates diatom growth and carbon fixation responses by up to 15%, driven by enhanced divergent genomic signals and persistent gene expression changes. Gradual acidification elicits weaker phenotypic and genomic shifts, aligning more closely with natural ocean conditions. These findings suggest that models based on abrupt CO2 increases may overestimate the contribution of Chaetoceros muelleri and maybe also other diatoms to productivity and biogeochemical cycling under ocean acidification, highlighting the importance of gradual pH decline in experimental designs to accurately predict marine ecosystem responses.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -