Abstract
Experimentation at sea provides insight into which traits of ocean microbes are linked to performance in situ. Here we show distinct patterns in thermal tolerance of microbial phototrophs from adjacent water masses sampled in the south-west Pacific Ocean, determined using a fluorescent marker for reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS content of pico-eukaryotes was assessed after 1, 5 and 25 h of incubation along a temperature gradient (15.6–32.1 °C). Pico-eukaryotes from the East Australian Current (EAC) had relatively constant ROS and showed greatest mortality after 25 h at 7 °C below ambient, whereas those from the Tasman Sea had elevated ROS in both warm and cool temperature extremes and greatest mortality at temperatures 6–10 °C above ambient, interpreted as the outcome of thermal stress. Tracking of water masses within an oceanographic circulation model showed populations had distinct thermal histories, with EAC pico-eukaryotes experiencing higher average temperatures for at least 1 week prior to sampling. While acclimatization and community assembly could both influence biological responses, this study clearly demonstrates that phenotypic divergence occurs along planktonic drift trajectories.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Marine National Facility for ship-time and technical support on the RV Investigator, as well as the captain, crew, and chief scientist, Prof Iain Suthers, for facilitating our sample collection during voyage IN2015_V03. This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP14010134) and Large Infrastructure and Equipment Fund (LE130100019) to MD. Molecular analyses were funded by an ARC Discovery Grant (DP140101045), awarded to Prof Justin Seymour; we thank him and Dr Nahshon Siboni for their support. CTK was supported by NSF grant OCE-1638958, MEL, KGB, JSC, CMR, LL and MA were supported by Australian Government Training Program Scholarships and OFL was funded by a University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship.
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McInnes, A.S., Laczka, O.F., Baker, K.G. et al. Live cell analysis at sea reveals divergent thermal performance between photosynthetic ocean microbial eukaryote populations. ISME J 13, 1374–1378 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-019-0355-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-019-0355-6
