Three experiments were performed at Davis Station, East Antarctica, 77 degrees 58' E, 68 degrees 35' S to determine the effects of ocean acidification on natural assemblages of Antarctica marine microbes (bacteria, viruses, phytoplankton and protozoa). Incubation tanks (6 * 650 L minicosms) were filled on the 30/12/08, 20/01/09 and 09/02/09 with sea water that was filtered through 200 microns mesh to remove metazoan grazers. The pH of each tank was adjusted by adding calculated amounts of CO2 saturated sea water. Treatment concentrations were maintained daily and microbial communities incubated for up to 12 days. The three experiments spanned early-, mid- and late-summer, with CO2 treatments ranging from pre-industrial to post-2100. The Excel spreadsheet contains 3 tabs: Experiment 1 - Early Summer Experiment 2 - Mid Summer Experiment 3 - Late Summer Within each tab there are measurements for: pCO2, dissolved inorganic carbon, Pmax, alpha, Ek, chl a, gross primary production (14C), bacterial production (14C), cell-specific bacterial productivity, bacterial abundance, dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, nitrate+nitrite, phosphate, silicate, ammonium, net community production, respiration, gross primary production (O2), photosynthesis:respiration ratios. Units for each measurement supplied within. Please see the following paper for interpretation of this data: Westwood, K.J., Thomson, P.G., van den Enden, R., Maher, L., Wright, S.W., Davidson, A.T. (2018). Ocean acidification impacts primary and bacterial production in Antarctic coastal waters during austral summer. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 498: 46-60, doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2017.11.003.

The dataset was developed during a cruise on the Umitaka-maru along the 110 E meridian from Fremantle to the ice edge. At five stations, zooplankton were collected and specimens selected for grazing experiments. They were added to 2L bottles, allowed to acclimate over 24 hours then placed in an onboard incubator and allowed to graze on natural phytoplankton assemblages. Water circulation around the incubator kept the temperature to that of seawater at the time of collection. Shade cloth was used to mimic the light conditions at each site. Where possible 4 replicates were run for each species and 4 control bottles were set up with the same phytoplankton assemblage but with no zooplankton added. Initial subsamples were taken and preserved in Lugol's solution. At the end of each experiment, further subsamples were taken and preserved in Lugol's solution. In the IMAS lab the phytoplankton samples were settled into smaller volumes and processed through a Coulter Counter to obtain the number of cells that had been removed by the plankton (initial conc - final conc). From those values, grazing rates of the species could be calculated for each site along the transect.

The Sub-Antarctic Zone (SAZ) in the Southern Ocean provides a significant sink for atmospheric CO2 and quantification of this sink is therefore important in models of climate change. During the SAZ-Sense (Sub-Antarctic Sensitivity to Environmental Change) survey conducted during austral summer 2007, we examined CO2 sequestration through measurement of gross primary production rates using 14C. Sampling was conducted in the SAZ to the south-west and south-east of Tasmania, and in the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) directly south of Tasmania. Despite higher chlorophyll biomass off the south-east of Tasmania, production measurements were similar to the south-west with rates of 986.2 plus or minus 500.4 and 1304.3 plus or minus 300.1 mg C m-2 d-1, respectively. Assimilation numbers suggested the onset of cell senescence by the time of sampling in the south-east, with healthy phytoplankton populations to the south-west sampled three week earlier. Production in the PFZ (475.4 plus or minus 168.7 mg C m-2 d-1) was lower than the SAZ, though not significantly. The PFZ was characterised by a defined deep chlorophyll maximum near the euphotic depth (75 m) with low production due to significant light limitation. A healthy and less light-limited phytoplankton population occupied the mixed layer of the PFZ, allowing more notable production there despite lower chlorophyll. A hypothesis that iron availability would enhance gross primary production in the SAZ was not supported due to the seasonal effect that masked possible responses. However, highest production (2572.5 mg C m-2 d-1) was measured nearby in the Sub-Tropical Zone off south-east Tasmania in a region where iron was likely to be non-limiting (Bowie et al., 2009). Table 1:Gross primary production at each CTD station and associated data; Mixed layer depth (Zm, m), incoming PAR (mol m-2 d-1), vertical light attenuation (Kd, m-1), euphotic depth (Zeu, m), differences between euphotic depth and mixed layer depth (Zeu-Zm, m), column-integrated chlorophyll a (0 to 150 m, mg m-2), column-integrated production (0 to 150 m, mg C m-2 d-1), production within the mixed layer (mg C m-2 d-1), production below the mixed layer (mg C m-2 d-1), production within the euphotic zone (1% PAR, mg C m-2 d-1), production below the euphotic zone (mg C m-2 d-1). Kd values that were calculated from chlorophyll a v PAR regressions are marked with an asterisk. At some stations there was a surface mixed layer as well as a secondary mixed layer and both depths are indicated. Table 2:Photosynthetic attributes of phytoplankton with depth at each CTD station; Mixed layer depth (m), euphotic depth (Zeu, m), maximum photosynthetic rate [Pmax, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1], maximum photosynthetic rate corrected for photoinhibition [Pmaxb, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1], initial slope of the light-limited section of the P-I curve [alpha, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1 (micro-mol m-2 s-1)-1], rate of photoinhibition [beta, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1 (micro-mol m-2 s-1)-1], intercept of the P-I curve with the carbon uptake axis [c, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1], light intensity at which carbon-uptake became saturated (Ek, micro-mol m-2 s-1), and chlorophyll a measured using HPLC (mg m-3).

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 867 See the link below for public details on this project. Dataset Sea-ice bacteria data are associated with ASAC_1012 and included there Data for bacteria from ornithogenic soil samples collected from the Vestfold Hills Region is included (associated with ref 9899): 1) Isolate designations, availability, media used and growth conditions. 2) Phenotypic data - morphology, nutritional and biochemical traits 3) Chemical data - fatty acids, wax esters 4) Genotypic data - DNA base composition, DNA:DNA hybridisation analysis 5) Phylogenetic data - 16S rRNA gene sequences The download file contains: Sample data obtained. Includes sea-ice sampling sites, location, information on ice cores including presence or absence of algal assemblage band communities and whether under-ice seawater was collected or not. Samples were melted and/or melted then filtered (0.2 micron size) for cultivation and DNA-related analyses carried out primarily in AAS project 1012.