Ocean acidification—the limits of adaptation
In an unprecedented evolutionary experiment, scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology demonstrated that the most important single-celled calcifying alga of world's oceans, Emiliania huxleyi, is only able to adapt to ocean acidification to a certain extent. The proof of principle for evolutionary adaptation was provided by GEOMAR scientists already in 2012. But four years after the start of the experiment, the growth rates of the calcifying alga have only made little progress. "Emiliania huxleyi's potential for adaptation is still lower than initially expected. Even after four years of evolution, the alga could not compensate completely for the negative impact on its growth", explains Dr. Lothar Schlüter, author of the study and a former doctoral student at GEOMAR. The researchers present their results, which were obtained in the frameworks of the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean" and the German research...