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). They assess the response of seasonal marine microbial communities (phytoplankton, bacteria) and viruses from the Santa Barbara Channel, analyzed by high-throughput amplicon sequencing and flow cytometry.

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