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Marine microbes form the base of ocean food webs and drive ocean biogeochemical cycling. Yet little is known about the ability of microbial populations to adapt as they are advected through changing conditions. Here, we investigated the interplay between physical and biological timescales using a model of adaptation and an eddy-resolving ocean circulation climate model. Two criteria were identified that relate the timing and nature of adaptation to the ratio of physical to biological timescales. Genetic adaptation was impeded in highly variable regimes by nongenetic modifications but was promoted in more stable environments. An evolutionary trade-off emerged where greater short-term nongenetic transgenerational effects (low-γ strategy) enabled rapid responses to environmental fluctuations but delayed genetic adaptation, while fewer short-term transgenerational effects (high-γ strategy) allowed faster genetic adaptation but inhibited short-term responses. Our results demonstrate that the selective pressures for organisms within a single water mass vary based on differences in generation timescales resulting in different evolutionary strategies being favored. Organisms that experience more variable environments should favor a low-γ strategy. Furthermore, faster cell division rates should be a key factor in genetic adaptation in a changing ocean. Understanding and quantifying the relationship between evolutionary and physical timescales is critical for robustmore »predictions of future microbial dynamics.« less

Abstract. Marine phytoplankton such as bloom-forming, calcite-producingcoccolithophores, are naturally exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR,280–400nm) in the ocean's upper mixed layers. Nevertheless, the effects ofincreasing carbon dioxide (CO₂)-induced ocean acidification and warming have rarelybeen investigated in the presence of UVR. We examined calcification andphotosynthetic carbon fixation performance in the most cosmopolitancoccolithophorid, Emiliania huxleyi, grown under high(1000µatm, HC; pH_T: 7.70) and low (400µatm,LC; pH_T: 8.02) CO₂ levels, at 15^∘C,20^∘C and 24^∘C with or without UVR. The HCtreatment did not affect photosynthetic carbon fixation at 15^∘C,but significantly enhanced it with increasing temperature. Exposure to UVRinhibited photosynthesis, with higher inhibition by UVA (320–395nm) thanUVB (295–320nm), except in the HC and 24^∘C-grown cells, in whichUVB caused more inhibition than UVA. A reduced thickness of the coccolith layerin the HC-grown cells appeared to be responsible for the UV-inducedinhibition, and an increased repair rate of UVA-derived damage in theHC–high-temperature grown cells could be responsible for lowered UVA-induced inhibition.While calcification was reduced with elevated CO₂ concentration,exposure to UVB or UVA affected the process differentially, with the formerinhibiting it and the latter enhancing it. UVA-induced stimulationmore »of calcification washigher in the HC-grown cells at 15 and 20^∘C, whereas at24^∘C observed enhancement was not significant. The calcificationto photosynthesis ratio (Cal∕Pho ratio) was lower in the HC treatment,and increasing temperature also lowered the value. However, at 20 and24^∘C, exposure to UVR significantly increased the Cal∕Phoratio, especially in HC-grown cells, by up to 100%. This implies thatUVR can counteract the negative effects of the “greenhouse” treatment onthe Cal∕Pho ratio; hence, UVR may be a key stressor when considering theimpacts of future greenhouse conditions on E. huxleyi.

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