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Arctic phytoplankton are experiencing multifaceted stresses due to climate warming, ocean acidification, retreating sea ice, and associated changes in light availability, and that may have large ecological consequences. Multiple stressor studies on Arctic phytoplankton, particularly on the bloom-forming species, may help understand their fitness in response to future climate change, however, such studies are scarce. In the present study, a laboratory experiment was conducted on the bloom-forming Arctic diatom Chaetoceros gelidus (earlier C. socialis) under variable CO2 (240 and 900 µatm) and light (50 and 100 µmol photons m-2 s-1) levels. The growth response was documented using the pre-acclimatized culture at 2°C in a closed batch system over 12 days until the dissolved inorganic nitrogen was depleted. Particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PON), pigments, cell density, and the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm) were measured on day 4 (D4), 6 (D6), 10 (D10), and 12 (D12). The overall growth response suggested that C. gelidus maintained a steady-state carboxylation rate with subsequent conversion to macromolecules as reflected in the per-cell POC contents under variable CO2 and light levels. A substantial amount of POC buildup at the low CO2 level (comparable to the high CO2 treatment) indicated the possibility of existing carbon dioxide concentration mechanisms (CCMs) that needs further investigation. Pigment signatures revealed a high level of adaptability to variable irradiance in this species without any major CO2 effect. PON contents per cell increased initially but decreased irrespective of CO2 levels when nitrogen was limited (D6 onward) possibly to recycle intracellular nitrogen resources resulting in enhanced C: N ratios. On D12 the decreased dissolved organic nitrogen levels could be attributed to consumption under nitrogen starvation. Such physiological plasticity could make C. gelidus “ecologically resilient” in the future Arctic.

Marine diatoms, the most successful photoautotrophs in the ocean, efficiently sequester a significant part of atmospheric CO2 to the ocean interior through their participation in the biological carbon pump. However, it is poorly understood how marine diatoms fix such a considerable amount of CO2, which is vital information toward modeling their response to future CO2 levels. The Tara Oceans expeditions generated molecular data coupled with in situ biogeochemical measurements across the main ocean regions, and thus provides a framework to compare diatom genetic and transcriptional flexibility under natural CO2 variability. The current study investigates the interlink between the environmental variability of CO2 and other physicochemical parameters with the gene and transcript copy numbers of five key enzymes of diatom CO2 concentration mechanisms (CCMs): Rubisco activase and carbonic anhydrase (CA) as part of the physical pathway, together with phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, and malic enzyme as part of the potential C4 biochemical pathway. Toward this aim, we mined >200 metagenomes and >220 metatranscriptomes generated from samples of the surface layer of 66 globally distributed sampling sites and corresponding to the four main size fractions in which diatoms can be found: 0.8–5 μm, 5–20 μm, 20–180 μm, and 180–2,000 μm. Our analyses revealed that the transcripts for the enzymes of the putative C4 biochemical CCM did not in general display co-occurring profiles. The transcripts for CAs were the most abundant, with an order of magnitude higher values than the other enzymes, thus implying the importance of physical CCMs in diatom natural communities. Among the different classes of this enzyme, the most prevalent was the recently characterized iota class. Consequently, very little information is available from natural diatom assemblages about the distribution of this class. Biogeographic distributions for all the enzymes show different abundance hotspots according to the size fraction, pointing to the influence of cell size and aggregation in CCMs. Environmental correlations showed a complex pattern of responses to CO2 levels, total phytoplankton biomass, temperature, and nutrient concentrations. In conclusion, we propose that biophysical CCMs are prevalent in natural diatom communities.

The effects of iron availability on pigment signature and biogenic silica production were investigated for the first time in the coastal diatom Chaetoceros gracilis (isolated from the SW coast of the Bay of Bengal, India). Results revealed that increase in iron supply considerably increases chlorophyll a based specific growth rates, whereas, it decreases the values of diatoxanthin index and photoprotective to light harvesting pigment ratios. It is likely that, under iron stress C. gracilis activated a strong photoprotection mechanism by maximising the conversion of diadinoxanthin to diatoxanthin and by increasing overall amount of photoprotective pigments relative to light harvesting pigments. The xanthophyll cycle comprising of diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin seems to be the principal photoprotective mechanism in C. gracilis and is consistent with some earlier studies. It is suggested that under iron limited conditions the diatoxanthin index and the ratio of photoprotective to light harvesting pigments can be used as physiological markers for iron stress in C. gracilis. The ratios of biogenic silica to chlorophyll a were considerably decreased with increasing iron supply indicating the possibility of reduced cellular silica content under iron enriched conditions; however, supplementary information is required to confirm this observation.