The 12th Sternfahrt of the ElbeXtreme and MOSES projects took place in 2024 from September 02 to 13, within the area of the German Bight (North Sea). Its objective was to get a more systematic grid of sampling data by spatially integrated onboard sensors. Therefore, the MOSES-laboratory container was installed again. Water samples were taken from the surface with a rosette or via Niskin bottles. The first part of the cruise was conducted by the research vessel (RV) Ludwig Prandtl, starting on the 2nd of September on Heligoland. From there, the crew navigated towards Cuxhaven covering some stations from previous MOSES cruises. For the next days, the ship followed a rectangular track, shifting northward each day, heading towards Heligoland again. Due to strong winds, the sampling stations were reduced to three on the last day. On Heligoland the RV Mya II took over the laboratory container and other sampling equipment for the second part of the cruise. Persistent strong winds delayed the start of the cruise until September 11. Since most of the planned stations were already covered from the RV Ludwig Prandtl, the crew decided to expand the sampling area using a more systematic zig-zag line. With the return of Mya II in the afternoon of the 13th September 2024, the campaign was successfully finished.
We surveyed dike grasslands of the river Danube in south-east Germany between 2017 and 2021 with 41 plots (25 m²) at 12 sites. The dike grasslands had an age of 4-19 years. The dikes were raised and restored and our main aim was the monitoring of the vegetation development. In this dataset are the measured local site characteristics like soil samples, landscape factors (using GIS) and historical factors (e.g. information from practitioners).
About 30% of the anthropogenically released CO2 is taken up by the oceans; such uptake causes surface ocean pH to decrease and is commonly referred to as ocean acidification (OA). Foraminifera are one of the most abundant groups of marine calcifiers, estimated to precipitate ca. 50 % of biogenic calcium carbonate in the open oceans. We have compiled the state of the art literature on OA effects on foraminifera, because the majority of OA research on this group was published within the last three years. Disparate responses of this important group of marine calcifiers to OA were reported, highlighting the importance of a process-based understanding of OA effects on foraminifera. We cultured the benthic foraminifer Ammonia sp. under a range of carbonate chemistry manipulation treatments to identify the parameter of the carbonate system causing the observed effects. This parameter identification is the first step towards a process-based understanding. We argue that CO3 is the parameter affecting foraminiferal size-normalized weights (SNWs) and growth rates. Based on the presented data, we can confirm the strong potential of Ammonia sp. foraminiferal SNW as a CO3 proxy.
As part of PhytOakmeter platform (www.phytoakmeter.de), soil chemical parameters were determined in 2016, 2020 and 2022. Soil pH was measured using a glass electrode in a 1:2.5 soil-to-0.01 M CaCl2 suspension after one hour of equilibration. Gravimetric soil moisture was assessed with a fully automated moisture analyzer (DBS60-3, KERN & SOHN GmbH, Balingen, Germany), here defined as soil moisture (MOI). Total nitrogen (TN) and total carbon (TC) contents in the soil were analyzed in triplicate through dry combustion using a Vario elemental analyzer (EL III, Elementar, Hanau, Germany), and the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (TC/TN) was subsequently calculated from these values. To evaluate the potentially bioavailable soil organic carbon and nitrogen for microbial activity, hot water-extractable carbon and nitrogen (HWC and HWN, respectively) were determined following the methods of Ghani et al. (2003) and Schulz et al. (2011). Additionally, the labile organic carbon and nitrogen easily decomposable by soil microorganisms were measured as cold water-extractable carbon (CWC) and nitrogen (CWN) based on procedures described by Zsolnay (1996), Zakharova et al. (2015), and Schmidt et al. (2017). Ammonium and nitrate (NH4±N and NO3—N, respectively) were quantified, with their sum representing the total mineral nitrogen content (Nmin).
This dataset presents porewater and solid-phase geochemistry as well as microbial cell counts and microbial induced sulfate reduction rates from calcite-amended and unamended sediment cores collected in Kiel Bight in February 2025 during cruise L25-02b. Sediment cores were incubated at 8° C under controlled oxygen cycles in the laboratory of the home institute. Porewater was extracted by centrifugation and anoxic filtration. Solid phase analyses included organic carbon (COrg), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), total sulfur (%) and data from sequential iron (Fe) extraction (Cline Assay), calcium ions, Fe total, manganese (Mn total, ICP-OES), sulfate (IC), alkalinity, hydrogen sulfide. Sulfate reduction rates were quantified using 35S-radiotracer incubation and cold chromium distillation (Kallmeyer et al., 2004, Roy et al., 2014). Furthermore, cell counts were determined. The dataset supports evaluation of enhanced benthic weathering effects on sulfur cycling, iron speciation and microbial activity in dynamic and seasonally hypoxic coastal sediments.
The continuous agricultural soil monitoring program (BDF) by the Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture, and Geology (LfULG) is operational since 1995, collecting and analysing samples periodically from 60 monitoring sites across Saxony, Germany. Stepped thermal analysis allows for the fast and cost-effective determination of different carbon fractions of ground soil samples. This dataset reports the analysis of 902 archive samples from the Soil Monitoring Program of the State Office for Environment, Agriculture, and Geology (LfULG) collected between 1995 and 2023, and 462 samples collected during a sampling campaign in September 2023. We report the thermal soil carbon fractions TOC400, ROC (ROC600), and TIC900 measured in air-dried and ground samples according to DIN19539 / DIN EN 17505 using an Elementar soliTOC cube. This dataset is part of a mid-infrared soil spectral library for agricultural soils in Saxony, Germany.
Global change exposes brown algal Fucus vesiculosus populations to increasing temperature and pCO2, which may threaten individuals, in particular the early life-stages. Genetic diversity of F. vesiculosus populations is low in the Baltic compared to Atlantic populations. This might jeopardise their potential for adaptation to environmental changes. Here, we report on the responses of early life-stage F. vesiculosus to warming and acidification in a near-natural scenario maintaining natural and seasonal variation (spring 2013–2014) of the Kiel Fjord in the Baltic Sea, Germany (54°27ʹN, 10°11ʹW). We assessed how stress sensitivity differed among sibling groups and how genetic diversity of germling populations affected their stress tolerance. Warming increased growth rates of Fucus germlings in spring and in early summer, but led to higher photoinhibition in spring and decreased their survival in late summer. Acidification increased germlings' growth in summer but otherwise showed much weaker effects than warming. During the colder seasons (autumn and winter), growth was slow while survival was high compared to spring and summer, all at ambient temperatures. A pronounced variation in stress response among genetically different sibling groups (full-sib families) suggests a genotypic basis for this variation and thus a potential for adaptation for F. vesiculosus populations to future conditions. Corroborating this, survival in response to warming in populations with higher diversity was better than the mean survival of single sibling groups. We conclude that impacts on early life-stages depend on the combination of stressors and season and that genetic variation is crucial for the tolerance to global change stress.
Ocean acidification causes an accumulation of CO2 in marine organisms and leads to shifts in acid-base parameters. Acid-base regulation in gill breathers involves a net increase of internal bicarbonate levels through transmembrane ion exchange with the surrounding water. Successful maintenance of body fluid pH depends on the functional capacity of ion-exchange mechanisms and associated energy budget. For a detailed understanding of the dependence of acid-base regulation on water parameters, we investigated the physiological responses of the shore crab Carcinus maenas to 4 weeks of ocean acidification [OA, P(CO2)w = 1800 µatm], at variable water bicarbonate levels, paralleled by changes in water pH. Cardiovascular performance was determined together with extra-(pHe) and intracellular pH (pHi), oxygen consumption, haemolymph CO2 parameters, and ion composition. High water P(CO2) caused haemolymph P(CO2) to rise, but pHe and pHi remained constant due to increased haemolymph and cellular [HCO3-]. This process was effective even under reduced seawater pH and bicarbonate concentrations. While extracellular cation concentrations increased throughout, anion levels remained constant or decreased. Despite similar levels of haemolymph pH and ion concentrations under OA, metabolic rates, and haemolymph flow were significantly depressed by 40 and 30%, respectively, when OA was combined with reduced seawater [HCO3-] and pH. Our findings suggest an influence of water bicarbonate levels on metabolic rates as well as on correlations between blood flow and pHe. This previously unknown phenomenon should direct attention to pathways of acid-base regulation and their potential feedback on whole-animal energy demand, in relation with changing seawater carbonate parameters.
The calcareous tubeworm Spirorbis spirorbis is a widespread serpulid species in the Baltic Sea, where it commonly grows as an epibiont on brown macroalgae (genus Fucus). It lives within a Mg-calcite shell and could be affected by ocean acidification and temperature rise induced by the predicted future atmospheric CO2 increase. However, Spirorbis tubes grow in a chemically modified boundary layer around the algae, which may mitigate acidification. In order to investigate how increasing temperature and rising pCO2 may influence S. spirorbisshell growth we carried out four seasonal experiments in the Kiel Outdoor Benthocosms at elevated pCO2 and temperature conditions. Compared to laboratory batch culture experiments the benthocosm approach provides a better representation of natural conditions for physical and biological ecosystem parameters, including seasonal variations. We find that growth rates of S. spirorbis are significantly controlled by ontogenetic and seasonal effects. The length of the newly grown tube is inversely related to the initial diameter of the shell. Our study showed no significant difference of the growth rates between ambient atmospheric and elevated (1100 ppm) pCO2 conditions. No influence of daily average CaCO3 saturation state on the growth rates of S. spirorbis was observed. We found, however, net growth of the shells even in temporarily undersaturated bulk solutions, under conditions that concurrently favoured selective shell surface dissolution. The results suggest an overall resistance of S. spirorbis growth to acidification levels predicted for the year 2100 in the Baltic Sea. In contrast, S. spirorbis did not survive at mean seasonal temperatures exceeding 24 °C during the summer experiments. In the autumn experiments at ambient pCO2, the growth rates of juvenile S. spirorbis were higher under elevated temperature conditions. The results reveal that S. spirorbis may prefer moderately warmer conditions during their early life stages but will suffer from an excessive temperature increase and from increasing shell corrosion as a consequence of progressing ocean acidification.
Ocean acidification (OA) is generally assumed to negatively impact calcification rates of marine organisms. At a local scale however, biological activity of macrophytes may generate pH fluctuations with rates of change that are orders of magnitude larger than the long-term trend predicted for the open ocean. These fluctuations may in turn impact benthic calcifiers in the vicinity. Combining laboratory, mesocosm and field studies, such interactions between OA, the brown alga Fucus vesiculosus, the sea grass Zostera marina and the blue mussel Mytilus edulis were investigated at spatial scales from decimetres to 100s of meters in the western Baltic. Macrophytes increased the overall mean pH of the habitat by up to 0.3 units relative to macrophyte- free, but otherwise similar, habitats and imposed diurnal pH fluctuations with amplitudes ranging from 0.3 to more than 1 pH unit. These amplitudes and their impact on mussel calcification tended to increase with increasing macrophyte biomass to bulk water ratio. At the laboratory and mesocosm scales, biogenic pH fluc- tuations allowed mussels to maintain calcification even under acidified conditions by shifting most of their calcification activity into the daytime when biogenic fluctuations caused by macrophyte activity offered temporal refuge from OA stress. In natural habitats with a low biomass to water body ratio, the impact of biogenic pH fluctuations on mean calcification rates of M. edulis was less pronounced. Thus, in dense algae or seagrass habitats, macrophytes may mitigate OA impact on mussel calcification by raising mean pH and providing temporal refuge from acidification stress.
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