The algae responsible for Florida’s toxic red tides may be more resilient to shifting ocean chemistry than scientists previously realized, according to research from Florida State University oceanographers.
The algae responsible for Florida’s toxic red tides may be more resilient to shifting ocean chemistry than scientists previously realized, according to research from Florida State University oceanographers.
A new study has revealed that the red tide-causing species that has menaced Florida’s coastal environments and tourism-based economies is able to efficiently utilize carbon dioxide (CO2) at a range of disparate concentrations.
The algae, called Karenia brevis, is able to thrive equally well in low-CO2 environments — like during red tide blooms, when carbon in the ocean can become scarce — and in high-CO2 environments — concentrations we would expect in a future ocean when atmospheric and oceanic CO2 is expected to approximately double.
“There has been a large increase in CO2 concentration from pre-industrial times already, and we expect more changes in the future,” said study co-author Sven Kranz, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science. “Past studies suggested we might see changing responses in these single-celled organisms, so we contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which monitors K. brevis occurrences in Florida, to provide us with a local species, and we started to investigate.”
Read more at Florida State University
Image: Researchers found that a Florida-specific strain of red tide-causing algae is able to thrive in a variety of CO2 concentrations. Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
