Marine algae can adapt to climate change: study

Algae might be able to cope well in climate change than expected, which would have great impact on the ocean's food chain, according to a report published Tuesday by University of Edinburgh.

Phytoplankton, like marine algae, forms the basis of all the oceans' food chains, and is important for absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while generating much of the oxygen needed to sustain life on Earth.

To find out how algae can survive in a changing environment, researchers from University of Edinburgh grew algae at the high carbon dioxide levels predicted for the year 2100 and beyond. The algae was allowed to evolve through 400 generations, with some exposed to varying levels of CO2 and some kept at constant CO2 levels.

Researchers found that algae exposed to fluctuating CO2 levels was better able to cope with further changes in conditions, compared with algae grown in stable CO2 levels.

The finding suggests that populations of the algae will adapt more to the varied conditions expected in future than was previously thought based on experiments at stable conditions.

Predicting how populations of ocean algae will respond to changing ocean conditions is difficult, but these results suggest that populations from highly changeable environments are better placed to deal with additional environmental change than previously suspected, said Dr Sinead Collins from University of Edinburgh.

But researchers also found that the algae developed in changing CO2 conditions evolved more and were smaller than those grown in stable conditions.

These factors may impact on how well marine animals can feed off phytoplankton, and how efficiently the algae is able to take carbon out of the atmosphere and sink to the deep ocean, according to the report.