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In coastal regions and marginal bodies of water, the increase in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) in many instances is greater than that of the open ocean due to terrestrial (river, estuarine, and wetland) influences, decreasing buffering capacity and/or increasing water temperatures. Coastal oceans receive freshwater from rivers and groundwater as well as terrestrial-derived organic matter, both of which have a direct influence on coastal carbonate chemistry. The objective of this research is to determine if coastal marshes in Georgia, USA, may be “hot-spots” for acidification due to enhanced inorganic carbon sources and if there is terrestrial influence on offshore acidification in the South Atlantic Bight (SAB). The results of this study show that dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) are elevated in the marshes compared to predictions from conservative mixing of the freshwater and oceanic end-members, with accompanying pH around 7.2 to 7.6 within the marshes and aragonite saturation states (Ω_Ar) <1. In the marshes, there is a strong relationship between the terrestrial/estuarine-derived organic and inorganic carbon and acidification. Comparisons of pH, TA, and DIC to terrestrial organic material markers, however, show that there is little influence of terrestrial-derived organic matter on shelf acidification during this period in 2014. In addition, Ω_Arincreases rapidly offshore, especially in drier months (July). River stream flow during 2014 was anomalously low compared to climatological means; therefore, offshore influences from terrestrial carbon could also be decreased. The SAB shelf may not be strongly influenced by terrestrial inputs to acidification during drier than normal periods; conversely, shelf waters that are well-buffered against acidification may not play a significant role in mitigating acidification within the Georgia marshes.

 

Coastal waters often experience enhanced ocean acidification due to the combined effects of climate change and regional biological and anthropogenic activities. Through reconstructing summertime bottom pH in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 1986 to 2019, we demonstrated that eutrophication‐fueled respiration dominated bottom pH changes on intra‐seasonal and interannual timescales, resulting in recurring acidification coinciding with hypoxia. However, the multi‐decadal acidification trend was principally driven by rising atmospheric CO₂and ocean warming, with more acidified and less buffered hypoxic waters exhibiting a higher rate of pH decline (−0.0023 yr⁻¹) compared to non‐hypoxic waters (−0.0014 yr⁻¹). The cumulative effect of climate‐driven decrease in pH baseline is projected to become more significant over time, while the potential eutrophication‐induced seasonal exacerbation of acidification may lessen with decreasing oxygen availability resulting from ocean warming. Mitigating coastal acidification requires both global reduction in CO₂emissions and regional management of riverine nutrient loads.

 

The western Arctic Ocean is rapidly acidifying due to sea ice loss. 

Aquatic ecosystems are increasingly threatened by multiple human-induced stressors associated with climate and anthropogenic changes, including warming, nutrient pollution, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and changes in CO 2 and pH. These stressors may affect systems additively and synergistically but may also counteract each other. The resultant ecosystem changes occur rapidly, affecting both biotic and abiotic components and their interactions. Moreover, the complexity of interactions increases as one ascends the food web due to differing sensitivities and exposures among life stages and associated species interactions, such as competition and predation. There is also a need to further understand nontraditional food web interactions, such as mixotrophy, which is the ability to combine photosynthesis and feeding by a single organism. The complexity of these interactions and nontraditional food webs presents challenges to ecosystem modeling and management. Developing ecological models to understand multistressor effects is further challenged by the lack of sufficient data on the effects of interactive stressors across different trophic levels and the substantial variability in climate changes on regional scales. To obtain data on a broad suite of interactions, a nested set of experiments can be employed. Modular, coupled, multitrophic level models will provide the flexibility to explore the additive, amplified, propagated, antagonistic, and/or reduced effects that can emerge from the interactions of multiple stressors. Here, the stressors associated with eutrophication and climate change are reviewed, and then example systems from around the world are used to illustrate their complexity and how model scenarios can be used to examine potential future changes.