Gately et al. (2026): Abrupt alkalinization alters microbial diversity and promotes the proliferation of marine parasites in coastal microcosm experiments
James A Gately, Sylvia M Kim, Zoe S Welch, Joaquín Martínez Martínez, Dylan Catlett, Benjamin Jin, Madeline Manzagol, Angela Larson, Mark A Brzezinski and Maria D Iglesias-Rodriguez, IN: ICES Journal of Marine Science, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsag063
Mitigation of anthropogenic climate interference will likely require the removal of legacy atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂). Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) is an abiotic marine carbon dioxide removal approach that accelerates the natural Earth process of rock weathering, but its effects on marine ecosystems remain uncertain. Here, the authors used outdoor microcosm experiments to investigate the effects of abrupt limestone-inspired and NaOH alkalinity additions of ∼750 μmol kg⁻¹, reflecting model-predicted OAE scenarios that produce severe localized impacts (e.g. large variations in pH and Ω).