Effects of ocean acidification on phytoplankton physiology and nutrition for fishery-based food webs from laboratory experiment studies from 2011-05-31 to 2013-02-07 (NCEI Accession 0121255)

This dataset contains laboratory experiment data that were collected to examine the effects of elevated levels of CO2 on phytoplankton physiology and nutrition for fishery-based food webs. Phytoplankton are single-celled photosynthetic organisms at the base of marine food webs that support finfish and shellfish production. At present, it is unclear how changes in atmospheric partial pressure of CO2 and ocean pH will affect phytoplankton physiology and community structure. We were funded to begin single-species, laboratory-culture experiments assessing the influence of experimentally-varied steady-state pH/CO2 upon phytoplankton physiology and nutritional content, including growth rate, elemental composition (C, N, P), total carbohydrates, lipids, and fatty acids. The data presented here represent the single species experiments done from 2011-2013.